A very short update since I had the time & the inspiration. You guys have been so incredibly patient with my sporadic, lengthy updates. I appreciate every last one of you. I'll do my best to update again very soon =]

In the years that followed their escape, Inuyasha & Sesshomaru wandered, searching for a place to call home. Whenever they got comfortable someone told Sesshomaru he looked familiar or they'd heard about the prince of the Western Lands escaping & Sesshomaru kind of sounded like the description. Every time, they had to pack the few belongings they had & set out for another city.

Inuyasha didn't mind very much. Moving place to place was what he knew. It was what he used to do to survive before he was under the care of the Taisho family. Sesshomaru, however, had grown in one castle all of his life so moving wasn't in his nature.

"Sessh? Sessh, the fire has gone out, why are you just sitting there?" Inuyasha asked after coming back from a hunt.

"I was waiting for your return so that you may revive the flames" Sesshomaru muttered, trying to keep the shiver out of his voice.

The hanyou sucked his teeth. "You gon' learn one day to be independent. You ain't in the castle no more"

"Don't use such crass slang with me. I am still..."

"You are still what, a prince? Yeah I doubt that. I'm sure InuTaisho has already scribbled your face out of every portrait in that palace"

"If he's still alive..." the inuyoukai said softly, almost sadly.

Inuyasha sighed & dropped the logs into a pile near the snuffed out camp before squatting & trying to rekindle the flame. "Do you regret it?" he asked quietly, after about twenty minutes of silence.

Sesshomaru crossed his arms tightly. His posture made it obvious what he was about to say but his face said the opposite. "No. It was not something I did on impulse"

"So you planned on coming to my rescue & saving me from the fiery dragon?" the hanyou asked jokingly, smirking. Sesshomaru seemed to be having a hard time not smiling at that. He turned his face away.

After the fire was at a nice roar, Inuyasha took the string of rabbits he'd killed & began to skin them. Sesshomaru, being the prissy prince that he used to be, stayed far away from the mess, not wanting to get blood on his clothes, even out here in the wilderness.

"The bunny can't bite, darling. It's dead" Inuyasha cooed before ripping a particularly stubborn section of fur off the body with his teeth.

Sesshomaru actually grimaced, shifting uncomfortably. "I desire to be in the nearest town in the most comfortable bed, being fed with a hot meal that we didn't have to catch ourselves"

The half breed barked a laugh. "We? No, ME. YOU sat there &...guarded the fire"

The inuyoukai's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Someone had to watch the provisions"

"Sessh, all we have is a flint & a length of rope to our names. How hard could it be to watch that?" he asked, laughing.

The demon ex-prince certainly did not like being laughed at. He stood abruptly & walked away [more like stomped away gracefully] in a huff, his hair swinging. The hanyou ran after him chuckling.

"Hey, hey, c'mon, Sessh,I was just joking. Don't be mad"

"Jokes are meant to be funny & that wasn't! & don't call me Sessh!" the silver haired beauty snapped. Inuyasha felt his dick twitch & hardened at the look on Sesshomaru's face. Kami, he was so gorgeous.

"Alright, alright. Come sit back down. You can help me cook these rabbits"

"No. I don't cook"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I understand you've grown up in a castle where you had servants for everything you could ever dream but we have no such thing out here, as you can see"

Sesshomaru huffed impatiently. "I do not know how to cook"

At first the hanyou smiled at the joke...until he realized the inuyoukai was serious. "Wh-what...? You've never cooked anything? Ever?"

The demon crossed his arms & looked away, embarrassed. He never did like not being at the best at things he did or not knowing how to do something.

Inuyasha let out the air in the lungs slowly. "Alright. C'mere"

He led the dog demon over to the fire & the mostly skinned rabbit [the parts that still had fur on it were not edible so he didn't see the point is taking the rest off anyway]. He patiently showed Sesshomaru how to skewer the animal & position it over the fire so that it would cook without burning & to turn it occasionally so that it would cook evenly. Sesshomaru paid surprisingly close attention, noting that when the blood started turning to juice when he poked it, that signified it was done. While that particular rabbit cooled, Inuyasha skinned the other three he'd killed, grinning when Sesshomaru made little noises of disgust in the back of his throat or would scoot away from the oozing blood [not surprisingly he refused to be taught how to do that particular job himself]. After all four of the rabbits had been cooked & it was ready to be eaten Inuyasha handed two of the skewers to his lover, smiling in pride. Sesshomaru took them gingerly, as if he wasn't sure if he would get splashed with blood or something.

"You did good. Enjoy the fruits of your labor" Inuyasha said, holding up his skewers as a toast.

"I'd rather not"

"Why not?"

"I prefer my meat raw"

Never had Inuyasha had a greater urge to hit the silver haired beauty.