"Maybe we should dress Inu Yasha up as a go-go girl instead?"
        "He’d kill us!"
        Inu Yasha listened to Yuki and Kagome debate his party-going fate on the other side of the bathroom door. As soon as he shook the dew off the lily and got back out there in the living room, those bitches were doomed! Nobody was dressing him up like a girl! No way! That Jim Morrison guy had seemed pretty manly to him. So Jim had shoulder length, dark, curly hair and Inu Yasha had straight white hair past his butt. Big deal. It was all in the wardrobe and the attitude—and Inu Yasha knew he had attitude to spare. Shit. Nobody exuded maleness as much as he did, not even Shunusuke with all his bulky muscles. Shunusuke was a puss down inside, with all that mumbo jumbo about peaceful solutions and non-violence. Hmph! Peace and love. Whatever.
        "I think he’d be cute in a mini skirt!" Yuki declared.
        To which Kagome growled: "You think he’d look cute in anything, don’t you?"
        "Don’t you?"
        Inu Yasha paused in mid-zip to hear Kagome’s response to that. And waited some more. Then some more. What was she waiting for?! How tough could that question be to answer about her so-called boyfriend?! "Grrrrr!" Inu Yasha zipped his pants, gave his hands a quick rinse and dry (Yuki was in the habit of asking if he’d washed his hands every time he used the bathroom), then stormed into the living room to see what Kagome’s problem was.
        She was just finishing up a really good blush and was exclaiming: "NOT IN GIRL CLOTHES, I DON’T!"
        Inu Yasha’s anger abruptly sputtered out. Good girl, Kagome! "And if you even try to put me in girl clothes, bitch," he snarled at Yuki, who grinned in a most infuriating way, "I’ll—I’ll—aw, fuck it!" He spun on his heel and stomped to the fridge to get a beer.
        "Oy, Inu Yasha!" Shunusuke called from his spot on the couch with the rest of the boys. "Bring me one of those, will ya?"
        "Me, too!" Miroku added.
        Shippo started to ask for one, too, but the stern look Miroku gave him made him change his order to a Coke. "You’re too young for alcohol," the priest scolded. Shippo stuck his tongue out at him.
        Inu Yasha sat in a chair by the couch, popped the top on his beer and chugged a few gulps. Then he showed his manliness by letting go a great, big belch, slouching down into the chair and letting his knees spread wide.
        "That was really rude, Inu Yasha," Shippo giggled.
        "Yeah," Shunusuke agreed, "rude. Good one, though."
        The lads chuckled and generally felt pretty darn confident in their manhood. Then they had a small burping contest, which Inu Yasha won, further proving what a lousy go-go girl he’d make.
        "What’re you guys gonna be for this shindig-thing?" Inu Yasha asked and swigged more beer. He was the only one with a definite costume.
        Shunusuke answered first: "One of the Beatles. I’m in the band, so it’ll work. I’ll get the other guys to be Beatles, too. I think I’ll be Paul McCartney."
        "What do you suggest for the rest of us?" Miroku asked.
        "You don’t have to be anybody in particular," Yuki told him. She and the other girls had moved to the kitchen where there was less testosterone. "You can just wear the clothes. I see you in a Nehru suit with little square sunglasses and love beads."
        The priest looked suspicious. "And these things would be…?" He cast a quick glance Shunusuke’s direction to see what he thought of his sister’s idea and to make sure from his expression that Yuki wasn’t planning to make him look stupid. Oh good, Shunusuke seemed to approve of the outfit, no mockery in the idea.
        Yuki described the clothes as best she could but eventually got tired of watching the proverbial goldfish swim behind his eyes and gave up. "Trust me. You’ll be a babe magnet."
        Miroku grinned.
        "Maybe one of them’ll bear your child!" Shippo teased and got smacked on the head for it. The kitsune giggled. "What about me, Yuki?"
        She thought about it for a moment, then asked: "How long can you hold that human illusion?"
        Shippo’s face fell. "Only for a couple of hours, then I’m me again."
        "How long till you can put on the disguise again after you turn back?"
        Shrug. "Just an hour or so, if I rest." He gave her a suspicious look. "Why? What are you thinking?"
        Yuki shook her head. "I wasn’t. I guess we can leave you as you and put you in period clothes. The tough one to dress will be Myouga."
        The flea paused on Inu Yasha’s neck in mid-slurp. Beer-tainted blood was…hic…intoxicating. He squinted at Yuki, tottered a bit on a prayer bead, got a grip and replied: "Don’t matter. HIC! I’ll jez be me, ‘kay?" His eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out face-down between Inu Yasha’s neck and the beads, where he made tiny, contented snoring noises.
        The others had a good laugh at the flea’s expense, but Inu Yasha growled his disgust and plucked his tiny servant off his neck. He considered tossing him onto the table then changed his mind, got some tissues from the bathroom, stuffed them into a rice bowl, lay Myouga on top of them then put the makeshift bed on the night stand in his bedroom. He was still grumbling about how he was way too good to the little blood sucker when he reclaimed his seat and his beer.
        "Inu Yasha," Kagome sighed dreamily, "that was so sweet!"
        Everybody else said: "Awwwwwww…"
        "Shut up."

        They were up for the better part of the night planning the details of the party. Shunusuke called his bandmates, who apparently had been waiting for just that call, since the Asano kids did this sort of thing every summer. They didn’t even seem to mind the short notice. Yuki appointed herself Shopping Queen and accepted volunteers (female only, since men, in her opinion, missed the point of shopping entirely) to accompany her on a tour of Tokyo’s retro boutiques.
        Next morning, the girls piled into Yuki’s car, Sango in some of Kagome’s clothes, and headed for the big city on shopping safari. The boys went with Shunusuke to check out the party room the senior Asano had booked for them and to meet with the rest of Shunusuke’s band. Much to their dismay, Sesshomaru was waiting for them. He leaned with lupine grace against the bar on the other side of the room from the entrance and watched his brother shift into defensive mode. Inu Yasha carried the Tetsusaiga in his hand, not willing to leave it unattended or in anyone’s custody but his own. He put his other hand on the hilt as he locked stares with Sesshomaru.
        "Relax, little brother," he drawled with that same, familiar bored note in his voice and barely smiled. "I no longer have any interest in possessing the Fang."
        Inu Yasha’s eyes narrowed. "Sure you don’t."
        Miroku and Shunusuke ranged out to either side of him, ready to fight if it came to that. Sesshomaru watched the with mild amusement. He pushed away from the counter and walked toward the newcomers, gesturing with his long, graceful hands as he explained. "In the centuries since you and the sword disappeared, I’ve carried on with my duties as Great Demon of the Western Lands: Fighting off challengers, hunting, intimidating potential rivals, that sort of thing. All without the aid of the Fang." He stopped within reach of his brother and stuck his hands in his pockets. Inu Yasha kept his hand ready to draw his sword. "I came to what was at first a startling realization, but I later realized was so obvious a child could’ve figured it out. Father conquered and held his territory without that sword—it was still a tooth in his mouth, with no magical powers. It was only after he took your mortal mother for his mate that he knocked it out and crafted it into the Tetsusaiga. He didn’t make the blade to better defend his realm. No, he made it for one purpose: To protect your mother. That’s why it won’t harm humans…and why a human woman was the only one who could draw it out of its resting place, and only to give it you to use to protect her."
        Inu Yasha took his hand off the sword hilt and let the hand holding the scabbard drop to his side. Much as he hated to admit it, Sesshomaru’s reasoning rang true. Neither brother had been able to pull the sword from it’s pedestal in their father’s tomb, only Kagome had been able to do that. Even then, the sword had protected her, shielding her from Sesshomaru’s poisoned talons. Inu Yasha had only been able to hold and unlock the Fang’s power after Kagome gave it to him and told him to use it to protect her.
        But what about when Sesshomaru had used the sword? When he’d attached a human arm to what remained of his left arm after Inu Yasha had cut it off in that first battle over the Tetsusaiga? Sesshomaru hadn’t been defending a human, why had the Fang powered up for him and allowed itself to be used against Inu Yasha? Maybe Sesshomaru could use the sword then because Kagome had already unsealed it.
        Inu Yasha decided it would be better if he kept those thoughts to himself, rather than give his brother a new reason to think he might be able to possess the Fang after all. "So…you no longer want it?"
        Sesshomaru shrugged. "I don’t need it," he smirked, "but if you want to give it to me, I won’t refuse it."
        That sent Inu Yasha’s hand flying back to the sword hilt, but Sesshomaru held up his hand to stop him. "I won’t try to take it from you is what I was trying to say." He sighed. "It’s been a long time, brother. I’ve grown with the weight of my responsibilities and have developed a long list of priorities that no longer includes—or even needs—the Tetsusaiga."
        "Do those priorities include breeding with Hisui Oukami?" Inu Yasha sneered. Shunusuke’s stern warning look was ignored.
        Sesshomaru chuckled and looked at his sandalled feet instead of his brother. "If you mean having children," he began, then paused to smile and meet Inu Yasha’s eyes again, "that remains to be seen. I’ve only known her for four months, though I’ve admired her from a distance for centuries."
        Inu Yasha shook his head. "Has anyone ever told you you have lousy taste in women?"
        Sesshomaru didn’t seem to be insulted by that at all. Instead, he just looked embarrassed. "You’re not the first to mention it, brother." He sighed. "But I love her in spite of all her quirks and psychoses. I’d like to imagine she loves me in return, that I’m more than just her current play thing, but I have no illusions about Hisui’s attention span." He fidgeted a bit, nervously playing with something in his pocket, a sad look on his face. "Brother, I know we hated each other in the past, and I don’t have any love for you now, I want to be sure you understand that—"
        "Likewise."
        "—but I must agree with you: Neither Hisui nor any of her kin should possess so much as one, single fragment of the Shikon Jewel."
        Inu Yasha gaped. He shot a glance at Shunusuke, wondering how the man felt about Sesshomaru being against him having any part of the Jewel (not that Inu Yasha would let him or anybody have any of it, either), but the young Asano’s face wore no expression. Miroku, on the other hand, needed help getting his jaw off the floor. "But—" he stammered, "but if you feel that way, then—"
        Sesshomaru finished the sentence for him: "Then I will probably lose Hisui forever, or fight her to the death over it, yes." He suddenly looked like he was forgetting something and held up a finger to keep anyone from talking while he remembered. "That reminds me: I have something for you, little brother." He pulled his hand out of his pocket and tossed something small and shiny at Inu Yasha, who snatched it out of the air in mid-arc.
        The moment it hit his palm, Inu Yasha knew what it was but he didn’t open his hand right away, his mind still frozen over what his hated brother had just done. Was this some kind of trick? Had Sesshomaru and Hisui planned this to put him off his guard so they could move in and take Mikoto’s shards as well as Kagome’s? The thing’s sharp edges dug into his palm as his fist tightened at the thought of yet another betrayal from his own flesh and blood.
        He was startled by Miroku’s light touch on his knuckles, and his head snapped about to find the priest trying to pry open his fingers. With an offended growl, Inu Yasha pushed him away, then slowly opened his hand. The little Shikon fragment shimmered in the bright electric lights of the ballroom he rolled it back and forth in his palm. If he hadn’t felt its power when it touched his skin, he’d think it was a fake. "Where did you get this?"
        Sesshomaru turned away and started for the door. "I stole it from Hisui when we made love yesterday. I don’t think you want to know where she was hiding it."
        The boys turned green.
        "Don’t worry. I washed it."
        Then he was gone, out the door, down the hall and out of the hotel before anyone recovered enough from the shock to even think of following him. Inu Yasha stared in a daze at the shard for a few moments more, then stuck it in the watch pocket of his jeans with the other two Asano fragments. "That was so fucking weird…"
        Shunusuke looked grim as he gazed at the empty doorway. "He’s lying," he turned around to face his companions. "I felt it. It was faint—he was definitely trying to very hard to block me—but I know he was lying."
        "No shit he was lying," Inu Yasha grunted, "but the shard’s genuine. What are they playing at?"
        Miroku leaned on his staff and bit his lip thoughtfully. "They want to gain your trust to force you to lower your guard, of course." He laughed. "I can’t believe they’re that stupid. You never let down your guard!"
        That put a smug grin on Inu Yasha’s face, and Shunusuke had to laugh. "Except when Kagome’s around, I’ve noticed. You’d better watch that. Hisui’ll use it against you."
        Yeah, she would, Inu Yasha knew, but he couldn’t help the effect Kagome had on him. When she was in danger, it sharpened his senses and made him a super warrior, but when everything was peaceful… He closed his eyes and was instantly greeted with a memory of her smiling face. Per usual, it clenched at his heart and made his insides all watery. He wondered why Hisui wasn’t threatening Kagome directly to get him to cooperate but was holding the proverbial sword to her family’s throats instead. He was only marginally reassured by the knowledge that Sango was with Kagome, though the demon hunter hadn’t appeared to be armed when they left to go shopping. Yuki had saved Kagome’s life, but Inu Yasha still hesitated to trust her after learning she and her brother had lied to him. What bugged him most, though, was trying to figure out Hisui’s game. Why did the little freak want them to act normal so badly? Why was that so important? It just didn’t make sense! And why give him a Shikon shard when the whole point of threatening Kagome’s family and the rest of them was to get his and Kagome’s shards?
        "Crazy bitch."