Inu Yasha and Kagome blinked at the top of the television where Shinai had sat a moment before, proposing a plan that would surely get him killed: Breaking up Hisui and Sesshomaru. What was it that the bizarre kitsune and Sesshomaru saw in that woman? Inu Yasha scratched his head, unable to think of a single redeeming quality about Hisui Oukami outside of her obvious good looks and expensive taste. Oh, and that habit of choosing human daddies for her children. Inu Yasha was none too pleased with his own heritage, so he couldn’t imagine why any demon (even his own father) would consciously choose a mortal over a youkai. As far as he was concerned, Hisui and Sesshomaru were the perfect couple. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
        "He’s crazy," Kagome snorted, startling Inu Yasha out of his musings as she crawled higher onto the bed. She lay her head on a pillow and watched the play of shadows on the ceiling as clouds passed in front of the sun. "I don’t think we should get involved. If either of them finds out we had anything to do with it, we’re dead, too."
        Inu Yasha had more confidence in his own fighting abilities than that. He lay down next to Kagome with his head on the other pillow and watched shadows with her. "I’m more worried about Hisui than Sesshomaru," he said. His brother had yet to win a fight with him, but Hisui Oukami had a much deadlier reputation. It made him wonder all over again why Hisui hadn’t made a more direct move against them to take possession of the jewel shards. This coyness just didn’t seem in character to him, but he didn’t know her very well, either (not that he was complaining, or anything). Maybe this kind of behavior was normal for her.
        Hmmm….
        What if this whole thing with Shinai was just bullshit, and the annoying little furball was really working with Hisui, not against her? Messing with his mind on yet another level. Oh, that would just figure! Sesshomaru was probably in on it, too, like when he tried to make them believe he got that jewel shard out of Hisui’s—
        Kagome snuggled up to him and gave his ear an affectionate nibble, turning every last thought in Inu Yasha’s head into gobbledygook. "Hell with Shinai," he thought happily and caught Kagome’s lips with his in a warm kiss. After a while of that, his hands started to roam down her sides and over her hips and back again. He tangled his fingers in her hair as their kisses became more urgent, and their arms squeezed more tightly about each other, pressing their bodies together in a most exciting way.
        Inu Yasha’s ears swiveled around, listening for intruders. This would be about the right moment for Shinai to pop in again, or Sesshomaru to land on the balcony, or Rei to knock on the door, wanting Kagome to go to the beach. As Kagome’s fingernails dug into his back, he found his mind wandering away from what he was doing and concerning itself more with waiting for the proverbial hammer to fall. Things didn’t go well for him for this long without something really bad or annoying happening to break it up. This was just too much. The uncertainty was driving him crazy. At last, he shoved Kagome away from him, shook his angry fists at the ceiling and shouted:
        "AUGH! JUST GET IT OVER WITH! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
        Kagome gaped at him.
        He gulped. "Um…this is usually where…you know, somebody interrupts us…" he stammered with a mighty blush. "I was…um…yelling at the…uh…"
        "Inu Yasha?"
        Gulp. "Please don’t say ‘sit’, Kagome," he begged, and tears sprang into his eyes. "Please?"
        She smiled and ran a teasing finger along his jaw. "I wasn’t going to say that," she purred and drew him closer with just that one, delicate finger.
        He blinked. "Y-y-you’re sure?"
        Kagome nodded and kissed him. "Positive."
        "Good."
        They lay back down on the bed to cuddle some more only to find a black fox camped out between their pillows. It licked its chops and growled under its breath, fuzzy ears laid back against its skull. "Kids these days," it sighed in an irritated voice. "You think of nothing but sex. Disgusting. And with a human, no less." It bent its muzzle to casually lick a paw. "Hm. Like father like son, it would seem."
        Kagome and Inu Yasha exchanged infuriated looks. "SEE?! I told you!"
        They glared at the fox. "Shinai?" Kagome asked cautiously. It gave her a dirty look. "Oh. Usagi."
        "That’s ‘Tsurai-Shi’, human!" He corrected her through bared teeth.
        Kagome tossed her hair with an indignant "hmph!" and turned her back on the irritating bodyguard. That was Inu Yasha’s cue to take over, which he did in the usual way: He took a swing at the beast. Tsurai easily avoided his claws by disappearing then reappearing atop the TV (which seemed to be prime kitsune real estate that afternoon). The furious dog-demon elected not to waste his energy this time and settled for exchanging dirty looks with Tsurai across the room.
        "Don’t tell me, let me guess," Kagome sighed, "you want us to help you break up Hisui and Sesshomaru."
        Tsurai favored her with a doggy grin and gave his tail an annoyed swish. "Why on earth would I want to do that? Hisui always turns to my brother when she’s on the rebound, and I won’t allow him to go through that pain again." He hopped off the TV and was in his human-like form by the time his feet hit the carpet.
        Same expensive-looking dark suit and perfect hair, Inu Yasha and Kagome noted sourly. "Doesn’t this guy ever relax?" Inu Yasha wondered.
        Tsurai’s tail whipped his legs as he continued: "I know my brother came here to ask you to help him split up Hisui and Sesshomaru. I’m here to advise you against that course of action."
        "Don’t worry," Inu Yasha snorted, "we have no intention of helping him."
        Tsurai cocked his head with a disbelieving smirk. "Oh? Not even to save Kagome’s family?" He waved a long-fingered hand at Kagome, whose expression went dangerously dark.
        "What are you suggesting, you mutt?" Kagome hissed. "That you’ll hurt my family if we do help Shinai?"
        The kitsune merely smirked. "Give it some thought," he advised, then disappeared.
        For a few moments, all they could do was stare at the spot where Mikoto’s creepy body guard had stood, then Kagome commented: "It’s hard to believe they’re part of the same race as Shippo."
        Inu Yasha nodded. After a little while longer, he asked mischievously: "Do you think it’s safe for us to try kissing again?"
        "Um…I don’t think we should risk it," Kagome joked, "we might get Sesshomaru."

        Back at the condo, Shunusuke was ingratiating himself into Sango’s good graces by giving her head a nice shiatsu massage, while Shippo dozed belly up in a puddle of sunshine beside them on the porch. Myouga dozed on the kitsune’s chest, his tiny snores alternating with Shippo’s louder ones. Inside, Yuki and Miroku had at last exhausted themselves and were snoozing in the bedroom.

        At the Higurashi shrine, meanwhile, things weren’t quite so peaceful…
        "Take your hands off my grandson, or I’ll slap you with an ancient and deadly curse, handed down through generations of keepers at this shrine!"
        The Oni woman stuck out her forked tongue at Gramps and continued tossing Sota up in the air like a beach ball. The little boy’s sobs only made her and the other four Oni guards laugh more heartily. "Curse this!" She made an obscene gesture at the old man.
        Gramps whipped out a small piece of paper with two characters on it and waved it before his face with a triumphant "HA!" Then he leapt at the Oni and plastered the curse to the hand making the nasty gesture and jumped out of the way to enjoy the fruits of his potent, priestly magic.
        The Oni tossed Sota high into the air, pealed off the curse, blew her nose in it, threw it at Gramps, then stuck out her hand to casually catch Sota, who landed on her broad palm with a plop and a startled yelp.
        Gramps burst into tears. His daughter put her arm around him in a vain attempt to comfort him, though experience had taught her not to expect success from her father’s so-called magic powers.
        "Oooh," the Oni mocked, "I’m sooooo scared!"

        Hisui cuddled up to Sesshomaru with her head on the demon lord’s bare chest and drank in his musky scent with a besotted sigh. One of her hands caressed his chiseled pectorals as she monitored the amusing activities of the kitsune twins with her telepathic powers. So, Shinai was lonely again, was he? Well, he’d just have to stay that way, she thought with a smug grin, because she had no intention of leaving Sesshomaru—ever. He was perfect, wonderful, fabulous, sexy, rich…everything she’d ever wanted in a man. And hell if a kitsune peasant was going to split them up. Hisui smiled. Tsurai’s desire to keep his brother’s fragile, little heart from harm just begged to be exploited. Of course, each brother had sought to involve Inu Yasha and his girlfriend, so she’d have to use those pawns, as well. Hm…but how? She decided to sleep on the matter, kissed her lover’s chest and closed her eyes with a contented sigh.

        Sango and Shunusuke were now fast asleep in a sunbeam. Shunusuke sat with his back against the railing and Sango’s head on his thigh. Shinai watched the cozy scene from one tree while his brother watched it from another. Then both foxes jumped down onto the rail and noticed each other for the first time. Their fur bristled on their arched backs as they snarled at each other, nose to nose.
        "Stay out of my affairs, Usagi," Shinai growled.
        "I won’t let you get hurt again," Tsurai growled back.
        "That’s my business!"
        "You’re my brother!" Tsurai barked and slapped his flank with his tail. "She’ll only use you again and break your heart! Remember what happened last time?"
        Shinai flattened his ears, but his tail drooped. He remembered, alright. All those terrible names she’d called him…all those insults to his family, his wardrobe, even his sexual ability. Why did he let her do that to him over and over again? He realized he was whining and broke it off with a cough and a pert swat of his tail. "That was a long time ago."
        Tsurai rolled his eyes. "But it happens every time! She’s happy, brother, doesn’t that mean anything to you?"
        "’Happy’, my ass!"
        "Open your eyes for once, you furry git!" Tsurai swiped at him, but Shinai hopped backwards out of the way. "If you really loved her, you’d be happy she’s finally found true love."
        "No, she hasn’t," Shinai argued in a hurt voice. "She just thinks she has. How can she possibly love a bastard like Sesshomaru?" How could anybody, for that matter, but Shinai kept that thought to himself.
        His brother crept close and licked Shinai’s muzzle until the angry kitsune relaxed and let himself be groomed. "Don’t belittle yourself, brother," Tsurai whined as he gently licked his brother’s fur. "Leave her be. Who knows? Maybe she’ll get bored with this one, too."
        Shinai sighed and backed out from under Tsurai’s attentions. "I won’t wait this time, brother," he declared firmly. "I’m tired of being her back-up boy."
        "Moron," Tsurai muttered, and got his muzzle swatted for it.
        "Look who’s talking!" Shinai scolded him. "How can you tell me not to ‘belittle’ myself, when you make an ass of yourself everyday for that whore Yuki Asano? She sleeps with anything that moves!"
        Tsurai swiped at him with a furious growl, but his brother once again leapt nimbly out of the way and quipped: "Except for you, of course! Maybe you should try being yourself, brother-dearest? Oh, but then you’d really be a loser, wouldn’t you? A geek in an expensive suite! Heehee!"
        Tsurai raised a paw to attack Shinai again, but changed his mind. "Brother," he sighed and shook his head, "you are such an asshole." Then he disappeared.
        Shinai gave Shunusuke and Sango one last envious look, then he disappeared, too. When they were gone, Shunusuke smirked. Inu Yasha would never be stupid enough to go along with Shinai’s crazy plan, no matter what the incentive. Shunusuke had seen the incentive in question in Shinai’s mind but he was no fool. He was sure the brothers’ little argument had been staged solely for his benefit. Ah, but had it been done to force him to get involved, or because they expected him to think that’s what they wanted and do the opposite? Curiouser and curiouser…
        Inside the condo, Yuki and Miroku were bathing each other and contemplating doing the do right there on the bathroom floor.