A/N: Some visual blotting for vocal emphasis is spattered messily around here, just like the claw-marks in the ground you might see if you look very closely...

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Thanks to my first reviewer tsuki! To answer your question, no, this will not be an mpreg fic, Inuyasha will not turn into a female or grow a mythical man-womb. If you were hoping for that I'm sincerely sorry...I just always found that outside the scope of the brand of weird that I write. :) The tanuki ploy is explained shortly, somewhere in this chapter. Thank you so much for taking the time to review and I hope you enjoy the rest! :)

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Sesshoumaru stayed awake and kept guard for about three hours, then slipped over to tug down the hanyou's loosely pulled up pants, finding them easy to move as the sash hadn't even been tied yet, and he moved one striped hand to reach for the tender flesh.

Inuyasha slowly bucked his hips and started to mumble out some incoherent noises as the stimulation started to rouse him from his slumber, and at first, he thought, maybe he'd been dreaming and was waking up with the phantom sensations of this wonderful but actually kind of creepy-

"Are you satisfied now, or should we continue? You're still saturated with dogfever..."

Inuyasha coughed and scurried into a sitting position, face bright red, ears flicking back, a look of mild shock and almost queasiness on his face as he registered...that hadn't been a dream. Unless this was also a dream-

"Shit, I, I woke up thinkin' I was...dreaming," Inuyasha blurted out, then hastily turned his head at the admission, "oh shit. I thought I'd wake up an' this didn't...happen. What h-happens...oh what the fuck. Oh what the fuck I was, that dogfever-"

"Don't Panic," Sesshoumaru warned sharply, reaching out with one firm grip on the hanyou's shoulder before he even thought about it, "the worst thing you can do with Dogfever is lose yourself to a true panic. Breathe. Close your eyes. Don't panic, Inuyasha. It's a potent drug. We can, if you want, we can forget...pretend it was a dream. Nobody-you don't have to act any different. It's a strong drug. Relax."

Inuyasha took a lot of deep breaths. Now that he'd slept a bit and his body had calmed from the euphoric adrenaline rushing of all that heated lustful drug-induced passion, now that his mind was less narrowly focused on pure carnal desire, he was thinking ten million bouncing thoughts about how this might affect-

"Oh, what'd we just DO, Sesshoumaru?! For hours. Over and over. Oh what the Fuck! Why didn't you stop me?! Why didn't you stop You?!" he now started to whine softly, but before Sesshoumaru could even respond to that, "Why didn't you...why did we talk each other Into that?"

The first few questions were asked with anxiety, but the last was asked with a slow curiousity and a stunned realization.

"Because," Sesshoumaru answered quietly, "we both wanted it."

"I...you mean you...You too?" his ears flared out to the sides, half in disbelief, half in submission, already wanton of more...

"I said Both, didn't I?" Sesshoumaru grumbled, and with a half huff, he adjusted the grip on the shoulder he'd still been holding, then drew the hanyou slowly closer and grazed one ear with his fangs, and let himself ask, very softly, "Are you upset now, little brother? I'll stop if you want me to. I can control myself."

"I'm just a little bit, just a...I don't wanna...oh fuck. I just don't know how...what does this mean for us? How much does it change? What the hell did we just do? Yesterday we were, we were like, allies at best, we barely talk, we rarely do anything together unless it's absolutely necessary or the humans con us into it, but we just spent...we just...I wanted it so bad and I, I still...I still Do. But I'm not even into Men like that! And you're my Brother! What the hell did we just DO?!"

"Dogfever," Sesshoumaru sighed lightly and shifted from breathing into that ear to just leaning with his cheek resting on the hanyou's head, and drew his arm loosely around his brother's shoulders, and Inuyasha blushed as he was pulled into this loose half-hug, "brings out the baser nature in all dogs. But nothing would have happened if there wasn't some desire there to begin with. It enhances lust, but you didn't even stop to think twice when I suggested you go to your own wife instead. Your instinct was strong, to protect her from your fever-tinged lust. Her body is far too fragile to have safely endured what you might have done to her. But you could have turned to seclusion, or fought me with a rage in an alternate expression of the drug's effects instead. That we did this...even Sango and Kagome told you, it's not so strange for Dog Youkai."

"U-uo," Inuyasha sighed shakily, reaching one hand up absently to clutch at his brother's fluff, "I guess I'm just...still kinda...I'm stupid or somethin', I get the royal fuckin' I always wanted an' it's so good I can't even believe it's true. I swear it's a compliment, Ani-ki," here he finally blushed hard and chuckled at himself, his posture finally loosening as his tension started to melt into more comfortable behavior, a sign that the gut-punch shock was wearing off, "Only you could make me turn that quick on my head an' heels. Holy shit you're good."

Sesshoumaru's chest puffed up at that, and a tiny smirk grew on the side of his face as his eyes nearly closed.

"Uo, I have had more than twice your lifetime's experience. You learn fast though, that's not something I was just saying. You're a natural at pushing your own limits," here he rumbled pleasantly, "and that we both like it when you choke so much is fortunate indeed."

"Hehheh," Inuyasha settled his face into a content smile, "yeah, that's actually pretty fun. I can't even argue it. I still feel a little..."

"Uo, you still reek of it too. I told you it would take longer than this. But you needed rest. Your body was starting to show fatigue. I didn't want to overtax you that harshly the first time."

"Well, I can't lie, my ass still hurts," Inuyasha blushed and giggled in self-mocking delight, not at all upset about that, "but I'm sure if you wanna poke around again I can handle it. I'll get over me. If you can get over it, an' you're the stuck-up Princess between the two of us, I'll get over it."

"What," Sesshoumaru rolled the half-serious, half-playful drawl off his tongue with a hint of malice and a deeper note of taunt, "did you just call me, kisama?"

"Uuuhhhhh," Inuyasha gulped, and his face split in a nervous grin as he caught the tease and played along, "I mean, eh, Noble Prince-"

"Liar," Sesshoumaru snarled softly, slipping his hand up to squeeze that throat, "that's Not what you just said. Tell the truth."

"I called you the s-st-stuck-up p-Princess of the two of us," Inuyasha whined out, though the fact that he was pleased to be forced into this repetition for the obvious impending humiliation was not at all lost on Kono Sesshoumaru. He knew the hanyou was already enjoying the idea of his imminent punishment, whatever it was that might be, he'd suffer it with absolute glee...

"Strip," Sesshoumaru snarled as his jyaki rose in false pretense, a mere exertion of his authority meant to excite the hanyou and rouse him to his eagerness more swiftly.

It worked. Inuyasha smiled and all too eagerly and swiftly shed his clothes, standing there drumming up his pulsing veins while Sesshoumaru languidly and fluidly slipped off his clothing in graceful movements that didn't even betray how the silk slid off his body where once it had stayed there, his optical illusion catching with a certain beauty, like water falling off a cliff-

"Down," Sesshoumaru ordered sternly, and Inuyasha dropped to his knees, licking his lips to prepare for the task ahead of him...

"Lick Slowly. I want to take my time watching your tongue taste me while you bow at my feet."

Inuyasha snickered softly at that. What a pretentious prick. Gods how he loved it though. This was probably What he loved, Why he loved it, the domineering display, the harsh treatment, the unforgiving commands, the total control he exercised, the absolutism that he would have His Way-

"What's so funny?"

"I am," Inuyasha admitted with a soft chuckle he couldn't help, "if you could hear my thoughts right now...nevermind. Sorry, Ani-ki, nothin' you need to worry about-"

"What was it?"

"Huh?"

"I'm curious," Sesshoumaru tilted his head just slightly, the question honest, "what thought made you laugh?"

"Uuhhh," Inuyasha blushed hard, coughing as he reviewed what it was that he...

Oh hell. Why not admit it? He could smell a lie. There was no point.

"You said 'bow at my feet' n' I, I giggled 'cause you're so Pretentious. But that's what I...what I find so fun about this. I like it when you get all Pretentious with me when I know it's...when we're...it was funnier in my mind," Inuyasha blushed darker and flicked his ears, trying not to make eye contact and blinking a few times rapidly.

"Ooohhhh, is That All? Well I Am Pretentious," Sesshoumaru snorted at him, "and I suppose for that which intrigues you to also amuse you must be in your more humorous nature. I was only curious, you know. It doesn't offend me. Now be a good dog and get back to licking, I've heard just about enough of your impudent wandering thoughts," he growled in playful self-contradiction, and Inuyasha snuckled and lapped his tongue hard and strong and slow along that cock, just like Sesshoumaru had wanted him to...

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Eventually they had no choice but to stop. Others approached now to take their own baths, so in reluctant haste, they stopped their attentions to each other and pretended to just be washing up from the tanuki smoke.

For over a whole day.

Not that anyone really bought that but...Miroku and Kohaku pretended to believe that as they settled into the water themselves, too curious to pull themselves away once there, too wise to be bold enough to ask any questions. They sensed it and perhaps even subconsciously caught a whiff of it in the air; a dog youkai could have picked out the sex smell from a hundred yards but even humans could feel heat in the air.

"So, that explains where he was and why...the tanuki must have used a very sticky substance if you had to take several baths to get rid of the toxin from your clothes," Kohaku coughed lightly.

"Uoo, indeed," Miroku agreed coolly, experienced at holding his face while plying his prices on customers who required his spiritual powers.

"Y-yeah, just scrubbin' away, tryna get all this shit outta the clothes an' the hair an' all, everything, y'know," Inuyasha agreed with a tiny flinch, trying very hard not to betray his awkwardness as Sesshoumaru remained stoicly indifferent, he having the most practice at doing that.

"So that tanuki," Miroku began casually after a moment, "used something that affected you mighty powerfully, eh Inuyasha? What was it?"

"It was somethin' that stunk horrible like those taijiya beads," Inuyasha stuck out his tongue and scowled in disgust, "an' I don't wanna have to deal with it again. I swear it was skunk juice mixed with horse piss an' sour vinegar stirred with hot spice an' rotten fish. An' some other stuff. It was enough to make you wanna die."

Miroku peered at him closely, and he saw a tiny blush there as the ears flicked into a defensive position.

"You're Hiding something."

"I ain't hidin' Nothin' Monk! Shut your trap!"

Miroku smirked as his violet eyes sparkled. Inuyasha groaned. He'd practically as much as admitted it now.

"That tanuki had you," Miroku drawled, "thumped out from a noxious gas, and your Dear Older Brother came and Rescued You? Aaawwww, how Sweet!"

Kohaku suppressed a snicker with a swift hand and a turn of his head. Inuyasha blushed hard and started to growl, clenching his fist with what the monk read as a silent warning of impending retaliation, which he braced to shunt or dodge. Sesshoumaru remained indifferent, scrubbing his skin idly and ignoring them all.

"It ain't nunya damn Business what went down when he got there or afterwards, so be quiet an' stop askin' dumb questions, you pervert!"

Miroku raised both eyebrows. Kohaku whirled his head to stare, catching the same thing the monk had. Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed, but none of the fluidity of his motions had been interrupted, his pace still stayed perfect, his reaction only miniscule.

"Or afterwards, you say? And what makes me a pervert right now, hhhmmmmm?"

"You're Always a pervert! I bet you thought that tanuki was tryna marry me or somethin' an' you thought, you thought he saved me from a wedding with a raccoon dog! Well it wasn't like that! You're nuts if you think that's what happened 'cause it didn't!"

"A tanuki wedding? Who said anything about..." Miroku cracked a grin, unable to help it, "Ooohhhh Inu-ya-sha, what Did Happen with-"

"Miroku," Inuyasha snarled and shut his eyes, fangs bared in warning, "shut up!"

Miroku might have continued regardless, and Kohaku had slid away from him by slow degrees though he also tried not to chuckle, but then a loud and distant but very familiar noise reached their ears, and the cloud that moved unnaturally in the sky and coasted down into the village told them all who had just dropped by Miroku's house to have a little trade-of-the-trade session with Sango.

"Nevermind," Miroku said sweetly, leaning back pleasantly now, "I don't need to get the story from you."

"If you ask Toutousai's cow I'll Kill You!" Inuyasha threatened, and perhaps those Words were expected-

But where the tone was usually dangerous, this time it was desperate, and Miroku straightened up and raised both eyebrows very high now.

"OOoooooohhhhhh Reeaallllyy?"

"Don't You DARE!"

"Now you know if you try to kill me for Real-"

"There are worse things than death," Inuyasha snarled, hard amber glare settling with quiet fury on his best friend, "an' I know a few too."

"Some things," Miroku chided almost whimsically, "are weighed with the reward against the risk, and in life, many choices-"

"I'll fuckin' kill you monk! I'm serious, really. Don't you go pokin' your nose where it don't belong!"

Miroku paused to study the blushing, snarling hanyou cracking his knuckles into a tightening fist, ears flicking madly in fear and anger and something, something like embarrassment-

And then, over the hanyou's shoulder, Miroku saw a touch, just a tiny peek of a hint of pink between the older brother's stripes.

Oh, that was Curious.

"So that tanuki wanted to Marry you," Miroku settled for teasing at that, spreading his arms along the bank behind his back slowly as he let his limbs splay out in the water, "hhmmm, I can see why. Your ears are rather Adorable."

Inuyasha blushed furiously at that. Kohaku snickered but tried to be polite about it. Miroku was smiling at his reactions, but Sesshoumaru let out the softest hint of a snort, amused at the sheer irony of that, something his brother surely couldn't have missed either.

"I ain't Adorable!" Inuyasha protested with a snarl, showing the monk his fist with irritation, "You lookin' for a beating, Miroku?"

"No, but apparently you were. Those stripes on your back are a little fresh, I don't recall those being old scars, you heal so well-"

"It was a long fight!" Inuyasha let out in a strangled voice, "an' the damn trickster used dirty magic on me an' so What if I have whip marks on my back right now anyways?! It's not somethin' you need to Stare at!"

Kohaku let out an incredulous snort and smothered his own face. Miroku gazed over with a serene, but knowing smile. Inuyasha growled back low in defiance of the monk's tease, still refusing to cave in to that observation. A tanuki could have used a trick to get his shirt off and whip-

Yeah, right. Inuyasha knew he knew better. But denial was like a strong river, the current tugged him downstream towards the crashing rapids despite common sense urging him to bail out and get to the shore before he went over the waterfall.

"A tanuki with a whip that hit you that many times...he must have immobilized you then. My, what a truly terrible experience you must've been having when your Big Brother showed up. I'm sure he was a sight for sore eyes."

Inuyasha blushed hard and opened his mouth, frowned, shut it, drew his lips into a pursed, puckered, thoughtful pinch, and thought over what he would say next very, very carefully, folding his arms over his chest and dipping his head while his ears flicked out pensively.

"It was bad, and he was a...sight for sore eyes," Inuyasha said gently, his ears flicking back just a little bit, "I'd be in a helluva hole if he hadn't come along to save me. So much for workin' out. I'm losin' my edge not fightin' anything worth payin' attention to, even the lame ass ones catch me off guard once in a while I guess...gotta be more careful."

"Mmmm, indeed," Miroku nodded sagely, "especially when they use potent toxins on you. Tell me, has the tanuki lust potion worn off yet?"

"Wh-wh-whaahhoooww'd YOU Knoooww?!" Inuyasha stuttered and yowled, and Miroku cracked a huge grin of triumph.

"It was a hunch. After all, if a tanuki wanted you for it's mate, then it would try to entrance you with one of their infamous love potions, or more often it's really a Lust Potion, a slightly different...in any case, for a dog hanyou like you, I assume it would be easy, Sango says an infusion of dogfever and a few other activating and enhancing ingredients-"

"Do you Really have to talk about this?" Inuyasha groaned, and Miroku smiled while Kohaku got further and further away with his quiet chuckles.

"After Rin told us all he'd brought you back, Kagome assumed that you decided to spend this time away from her because you feared harming her. After what's been happening with the other youkai Kohaku's been dealing with lately we realized that some tanuki from one of the more desperate clans have taken to mixing their bloodline with other dog species, as they're the next closest in compatibility. They've been out using lots of dogfever on a lot of dog youkai, probably to throw them into heat and try to get them mated. If the tanuki you fought was male, it likely had a sister or mother or cousin who wanted to get pregnant. I bet they coveted those ears of yours, they're so-"

"I'll fuckin' kill you, Miroku, you sit here jokin' about tanuki women takin' advantage of me-"

"Easy, Easy! I'm sorry," Miroku raised both hands, contrite, "settle down, I mean nothing by it. You're usually not prone to being sensitive to my little jokes, but I see this one is far too touchy. My apologies," he dipped his head smoothly.

"Keh!" Inuyasha scowled and stiffened one shoulder, "Well I ain't no Pansy or nothin', just don't be a Dick about it, huh? It's Fresh, an' I'm still drugged up a little bit. S'why I needed a..." here he coughed hard into his hand and jerked his head towards Sesshoumaru, "babysitter."

"Ah, that makes sense," Miroku agreed sweetly, and Kohaku by now was almost twenty feet from the rest of them and had a different angle...

Kohaku saw the look that flashed on Sesshoumaru's face. Amusement, curiousity, a tiny hint of wistfulness. Kohaku knew, he just Knew, and he was sure that Miroku knew too, that those whip-marks were far too familiar and too numerous and...

No, those whip-marks had come from Sesshoumaru. This tiny flash of a near-betrayed disguise when Inuyasha had said that confirmed it now.

As if sensing that the young man's mind had seen his reaction, Sesshoumaru tilted his head softly, inclining it to the opposite direction.

"Kohaku," he didn't look over when he called out his name softly, "why are you drifting over there so far? Are you afraid of something?"

"Uh, n-no, Lord Sesshoumaru, of course not," Kohaku half-lied with a slight nervous twinge, and Sesshoumaru slid his gaze to the side in what was almost a roll of his eyes.

"How Noble of you," the monk was just Full of Irony tonight, Sesshoumaru thought to himself, "to supervise your Little Brother in his time of Great Need, Lord Sesshoumaru."

Inuyasha coughed and blushed dark, turning his head and holding back a strangled noise. Sesshoumaru gave the monk a cool stare, stoic, void.

"I think you misunderstand my motives, monk. I had no concern for being Noble, or Supervising, or his time of Need. Yet it occurs to me that since I've left Rin here, my frequenting of this village might suggest to others that I have begun to grow fond of him, and if he goes around acting Foolish in public, that presumed connection will damage my reputation by extension. My reasons are purely selfish," he growled out.

Inuyasha couldn't help his tiny smile. Selfish indeed. Miroku probably knew it was a lie, even though a human nose couldn't smell it, but that was pretty...Adorable of his Ani-ki to put it that way.

"Ooohh? So I see," Miroku drawled out casually, "Purely Selfish, you say? Not one concern for your Little Brother's fate in all that mess?"

"Not one," Sesshoumaru agreed nonchalantly, though the fact that this reflexive lie was already a customary retort was just a given really.

"Mmmmm," Miroku shut one eye in a tease as the other roved along the faint but still definitely noticeable scars of the whip-marks on the back of the stiff-shouldered hanyou, "I Believe You Completely, Lord Sesshoumaru."

Lies. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru both smelled that distinctly, but chose wisely not to call him on it, for they'd call themselves on it really.

Kohaku snorted and tried to stay inconspicuous. Miroku kept his gracious grin on his face. Inuyasha was nervous now, face caught in a mix of a half-casual, Too Casual side-gaze, and a little hint of a satisfied smile that lingered from the heady flush of the arousal he'd not yet fully come off of along with the faint residue of the dogfever in his system, and then there were hints of embarrassment, confusion, longing...

"Hey guys," Shippou's voice called as he bolted along the end of the path, pausing just long enough to look them over, "well, I see the scent of blood I smelled must've been from clothes or somethin', cause you don't look injured. You mind if I join?"

"Come on in, Shippou," Miroku smiled grandly before anyone else could protest, and Kohaku blushed as he realized what his brother-in-law was up to now, drawing out the awkwardness and hoping the fox would say something that would make Inuyasha slip over his tongue, which was one of the fox's lesser-known but more hilarious talents of course...

Inuyasha shot Miroku a dirty glare and clamped his mouth shut, determined not to let the monk win his little game. Kohaku inched himself closer to the bank, truly ready to bail if anything happened-his loyalty was to his own hide, he loved Miroku but the monk asked for trouble with no regard for self-preservation sometimes. Shippou shrugged out of his clothes with just a little extra care on the torso garments so his tricks didn't spill all over before he ran and leaped into the center of the pool, making a little splash. Sesshoumaru remained indifferent. Mostly. Outwardly anyways. Inwardly, he was slightly annoyed, a little amused, a little confused, and somewhat uncertain if he knew how Inuyasha felt.

"Hey," Shippou sniffed the air after a moment, pausing to glance around, "the air around here smells..."

"I got jumped at by a tanuki, it threw a lotta smoke at me," Inuyasha said hastily, "it all still smells a little funny, that's why we're still scrubbin' it off."

"You went to fight something together?" Shippou tilted his head at the two brothers, "Really?"

"Uh, n-not exactly," Inuyasha cringed, "I uh...got myself drugged by a tanuki who knocked me out an' made me loopy. Rin realized I wasn't back here when I was s'posed to be an' asked him to come get me. Stuff's so potent he had to keep me here'n babysit...my stupid ass...make sure I didn't do somethin' Ridiculous...y'know," he was as red as his kimono, and Shippou was giggling at watching him flush full crimson.

"Sounds like the kind of stupid tricks you fall for all the time," Shippou agreed, "but that wasn't the scent I was talkin' about. It smells a lot like sweat, but it's got a few other differences. I smell it at inns a lot, but not usually here at the hot springs by this village. Odd."

Miroku slid his deep amethyst eyes towards Inuyasha with a triumphant grin. Inuyasha groaned and fell silent. Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to have any kind of reaction, merely continuing to run his soap absently over himself for about the ninth time since they'd heard the monk and the taijiya walking on the path towards them.

"I dunno," Inuyasha shrugged tersely, which in truth looked more like a jerking motion than a shrug, "I don't smell anything funny here."

"Hhhmmm," Shippou frowned, "I know I've smelled this before. Gimme a minute and I'll figure out...huh. I smell it at taverns and inns and at brothels and the Maboroshi inner sanctum rooms...ooooohhhhhh. Somebody got Frisky up here!" Shippou crowed, tapping his palm, "that's it!"

"WWhhhaaaattt?!" Inuyasha yipped, eyes narrow, "How'n the Hell would YOU know anything About people gettin' Frisky?! What's that mean to you?!"

"Inuyasha," Shippou sighed, "I'm less than ten years away from getting my second tail. I'm not the little kid you think I am, this is just an indication of the form I most naturally assume when I'm not in my true form. I'm just not old enough to go through the transition to adulthood yet, that probably won't happen until I get my second tail. But I'm older than Kaede. I know what Getting Frisky means, what it looks like, and what it smells like..." and here he took in a deep whiff, "an' I smell it Strong here. It kinda smells like-"

"Okay That's Enough! You're still a little kid an' if y'ain't old enough to do it y'ain't enough to talk about it!" here Inuyasha gave vehement protest, and Shippou, unfazed, gave him a frown and sniffed harder anyways, eyes narrowing as he caught a distinct mix-

"Oh," Shippou blinked slowly, "wow. I would have never guessed..." and his eyes couldn't help but pass over the taiyoukai before hastily and fearfully slipping away, his fox nose keen enough to pick out the distinction of their two scents in the salt impressions of all the things the two of them had done not thirty feet from where they all bathed now.

"Never guessed what? I dunno what you're talkin' about! You got acorns for brains if you think, you think, well I don't care what you think!"

Shippou stared at Inuyasha hard. A tiny smile twitched on the side of his face. He debated with himself. They were all naked right now. Most of his tricks were in his sleeves.

But he'd learned in life to always keep something up his sleeve...or in his case, hidden in his hair or tail or ribbon...

"I bet you Don't care what I think," Shippou agreed casually, looking down with apparent disinterest in the topic already to examine his claws casually, curling them inwards and looking them over with brief study, "after all, it's none of My Business which dogs get which bones."

"Shippou," Inuyasha snarled, eyes flashing with heated ire, "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Not a chance," Shippou chuckled darkly, "you'd have to catch me first, and you know you can't. Not right now especially."

"An' what's That supposed to mean?" Inuyasha snarled with a low threatening tone.

"With that much dogfever left after a whole day of trying to sweat it out with the uh, heat of the hot springs here, you still have enough in your body to make your reactions as bad as if you were getting halfway to drunk. Fuzzy, y'know. You may as well not even try. You don't stand a chance if you try to pounce right now."

"That's a baited trap," Inuyasha grumbled and crossed his arms, "an' I'm not fallin' for it."

"I know," Shippou said coolly, "because you know it works on you every time."

"Shut Up!"

"If you could Catch me, you could-"

Sesshoumaru flitted over and snatched up the fox by his tail.

The kitsune laughed and vanished in a puff of smoke, and Shippou appeared on Inuyasha's shoulder, giggling and sniffing his neck deeply right by the tiny little holes where the punctures from the dog's fangs were healing fast-but not fast enough.

"Smells like you had a fun babysitter," Shippou winked in tease before Inuyasha snarled and punched-another copy, which also vanished in smoke.

Miroku drew his hand to his mouth and tried not to laugh. That failed. Sesshoumaru scanned the area for a sign of the fox, but the kitsune had apparently sensed his chance to be mischievous and felt like he shouldn't push too hard, and escaped...for now. Kohaku was nervously skirting the edge of the pool, once again trying to keep distance between himself and a potential lashout. Inuyasha was outraged, fighting himself, and by now he knew, they all knew, They All Knew that they All Knew...

"Shippou has no idea just how fun of a babysitter I really am. Perhaps one day I'll show up to watch him so he doesn't bother my little brother and his wife," Sesshoumaru declared nonchalantly, surveilling the area to see if he could spot-

"Sorry, I don't need a Babysitter, I don't fall for Tanuki Tricks and I don't get all messed up by Dogfever," Shippou appeared, clothed again, sticking out his tongue and wagging it at Inuyasha, "Nyah nyah, foxes rule, dogs drool, I'm a genius, you're a fool!" and Poof! gone.

"Brat," Inuyasha snarled, "wait'll I get my hands on 'm! Thinkin' he can suggest stupid shit like that, like sayin', like suggestin' that..."

Here he faltered, and fumbled, and fell silent, and his ears took a strange low stance of great discomfort, and he turned his head and coughed.

"He's a silly kitsune," Miroku offered graciously.

"Miroku I'll fuckin' kill you."

"What did I say?" the monk asked most innocently in his Truly Offended voice. Which was facetious, of course. He knew already.

Inuyasha didn't answer him at first. What happened first was a long and painful cringe before he dared to look at his Ani-ki for permission...

Sesshoumaru tilted his head just slightly, giving a tiny pause to that thought before his head dipped a fraction lower. He'd let Inuyasha decide what to or what not to say.

Inuyasha sucked in a deep breath. He felt his ears spasming as he struggled to keep his emotions together. He took another deep breath and he felt his eyes drifting towards Sesshoumaru, seeking the taiyoukai's strength, his coolness, his unflinching power...

"Miroku, you remember when your wife was tellin' Kohaku here about dog youkai?"

"Mmmm, there's so many conversations-"

"More recently, when he asked 'r about all the strange behaviors lately, an' she told'm to watch out for pairs, especially...those who are strong, and even more so if they're..."

"Both male?" Miroku supplied after a small pause, "Sooo, Kagome-sama was right after all, then. You've been harbor-"

"Miroku I'll fuckin' kill you!"

"Your Puppy is Adorable, Lord Sesshoumaru," Miroku chuckled outlandishly, and Inuyasha groaned in protest.

"Don't Say shit like that! I am Not ADORABLE!"

"Uo," Sesshoumaru spoke gently, but there was a gleam of mischief in his eyes, a subtle undertone that caused a twitch of knowing in Inuyasha's ears as he continued smoothly, "a better word for him is Cute."

Inuyasha let out an aggravated but resigned sigh of defeat. Miroku started to laugh outright, knowing that his victory in this was complete, no act of violence could spare the hanyou this grief. Kohaku snickered and blushed at Sesshoumaru's humor, finally drifting back near the monk, no longer too afraid to be near them all anymore now that the secret was slipping out of the closet and into the open.

"Especially the ears," Miroku agreed with a wink and a haughty lift of his chin, daring Inuyasha to try and talk his way around this one now.

Inuyasha gave his best friend a pointed, dark, evil scowl. When that illicited a wider smirk, Inuyasha lifted his lips and snarled, baring his fangs in agitation. Miroku started to chuckle again. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and flicked his ears a few times, his shoulders rising with just the barest hint of guardedness that lingered even with those he was most comfortable with...

"Dogfever," Inuyasha sighed and tucked his head low, "isn't some simple thing like taima weed. I couldn't take it out in a simple way other'n what We had to, we weren't gonna endanger anyone else, I, an' I-what the Fuck. Ani-ki," Inuyasha bleated, turning to give him a pained look, a tear in his mind ripping at an unraveling seam, "do I, do you, if I-"

Sesshoumaru blinked at him and tilted his head, curious as to why he felt the need to ask for this permission yet again, until he then realized that what it Actually was, is that he didn't know how to admit it to his best friend that-

It was too obvious they already knew. The innuendoes were fairly transparent and brazen. There was no doubt of that. What the monk was Really asking was actually much more obtuse and gossipy than that. He wasn't interested in Inuyasha's excuses. He wanted Other Details.

"Don't be so Jealous, Monk, just because I got to his tight virgin ass before you were able to seduce him. I should think by now that you knew no mere mortal such as yourself has the strength or stamina to satisfy a hot-blooded hanyou born of my Father's line."

Inuyasha whined and ducked his head, but when he felt a strong hand grip the back of his neck with a loose but purposefully demonstrated clutch of possessiveness, he relaxed into it even as he heard the monk, and finally the taijiya who couldn't help it anymore, burst into chuckles.

"So he's never been with a man before you, eh? No wonder I wasn't able to get past a peck on the lips, even with strong shochu-"

"Miroku! That was a dare in the middle of a drinkin' game! It doesn't Count!"

"A dare in a game? What game?" Sesshoumaru sounded intrigued.

"Uo, it's real simple, it's called Truth or Dare, you ask each other what the, the other person is gonna pick, an' if they pick truth they have to answer any question honest, an' if they pick dare they gotta do what you dare 'em. In the drinkin' version you gotta take a shot plus one for the total number of passes, of times you refuse to do the dare or answer, so like the first time you take two shots, the second time you take three..." Inuyasha coughed lightly, "it's definitely a late-night no kids sorta version for sure..."

"Shots?"

"Kagome brought these little glasses...uh, a tiny bit, a mouthful, of real strong shochu, a standard measure o'booze in her time."

"Mmm. Sounds simple enough."

"Should we leave you two alone to finish working off the dogfever then?" Miroku snickered with pleasantries, tilting his head curiously.

Inuyasha let out a haggard long exhale of true defeat. It was inescapable the moment he'd agreed to it, he realized.

"You'd leave long enough to hide an' watch, monk. Kohaku has no interest but I know you better, pervert."

"Of course I'd have to hide, you'd be too shy to let me watch openly," Miroku chortled, truly amused.

"Keh!"

"Well I must be going-"

"Bye Kohaku," Miroku snorted cheerfully as the taijiya hastily slipped on his kosode and hurried off, sensing an imminent adult moment he'd not want to have any part or parcel of.

"Well then, monk," Sesshoumaru said coolly after a short pause while Kohaku's footsteps faded, "are you going to ask?"

"To ask?"

"If you can watch."

"Aniii-kiiii!" Inuyasha let out a startled, soft yowling whine, face turning bright red and ears flicking low in embarrassment.

"No, no," Miroku chuckled deeply now, "I'd get too jealous, I think, if I were to watch I might reach out and touch-"

"MIROKUUUU!"

"Then leave," Sesshoumaru said casually, "before you get too tempted, and don't come back to watch."

"Hai, Lord Sesshoumaru," Miroku giggled and slipped out of the water, "I won't keep you from your great battles of conquest-"

"Miro-"

"Ssshhhhh, just let him leave," Sesshoumaru grumbled, "there's no hiding lust from perverts. He would have known regardless."

"Oh you're right," Inuyasha hung his head with a sigh, "I knew that."

"Bye Inuyasha," Miroku winked and teased as he sauntered away, steps light and cheerful as his robe clung to his damp skin.

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A/N:

With Kagome's psychology books around and nothing better to do than gossip in the middle of laundry and weeding gardens, I assume that if it was plausible for it to happen, it would be at least Somewhat Expected Enough. And if anyone knows about Youkai Psychology, it would be Kagome's BFF Sango. And if anyone knows about what Lust looks like, it would be the perverted monk Miroku. And if any human in the village has the great wisdom and life experience to know things about things it's Kaede. And if...well you get the idea.

Unnecessary Ramble:

Shippou's age is presumptive and based on the fact that Japanese mythology has kitsunes getting another tail every hundred years after birth until they are a nine-tailed at a thousand years old, meaning that all we Technically Know of his age is that he Often Appears to be very young, presumably at the maturity of a seven-year-old human equivalent. Rumiko herself never gave a specific age for most of the non-humans in the Inuyasha series. Technically she didn't write the third movie scenario so even the presumptive "known" age of Inuyasha is disputable. At one point in the series when Shippou is going to take a bath with the girls Inuyasha comments on the fact that he's about to do so and then says something about telling him why he shouldn't "maybe in fifty years" and some took this to mean that Inuyasha has the idea that he's about fifty and will take another fifty years to reach a hundred and grow his second tail. Which is a silly presumption in my opinion. Fifty years was likely just some arbitrary way of saying "when you're old enough" rather than a true delineation of expected timeframes. Another theory is that he can't possibly be more than fifty because he hadn't heard of the Panther Demons or Inuyasha's debacle with Kikyou. Also ludicrous-what does a baby fox care about the going-ons of warlords, hanyou, priestesses, and politics? Despite whatever age he may really be, the fact remains that he's still a One-Tailed fox which we assume means he's physically immature enough to still present as a child in his most natural humanlike state. That's really all we know. So for him to be old enough and clever enough to know about these things but pretend not to for so long before...well, I don't think that's really so ridiculous, do you?

Why do I ramble like that? I don't know. Anyways, review if you'd like to, hope you're enjoying so far :)