AN: Thanks Danyealle for helping me kick-start my muse again. I hope my attempt at answering her challenge isn't too lame. "grin"
Warning: Some swear words and naughty mentions. That's it!
xxx
It started like a typical night.
Ever since Rin has joined his pack, the demons have learned that they would have to stop for the night and have a fire burning to stove the cold away from the fragile human. So a routine was set:
Stop the group and have Jaken grumble for a full minute when asked to see to Rin's needs? Checked.
Kick the toad for added elevation of boredom and the fact it made Rin laugh? Checked.
Find a perfect boulder from where he can ignore the group and their squabbling while dreaming with his eyes opened, but pretending to be thinking deeply? Che....No, this won't do.
The boulder wasn't perfectly flat and a tiny stone was getting ready to leave its mark on his perfect...behind, hadn't been for his excellent eyesight.
The Nerve!
A flick of his deadly claws and no annoyed huff - that wouldn't have been dignified - Sesshomaru sent the pebble flying to parts unknown, and then with all the grace given to him by good breeding and painfully learned posture, he set himself on the now perfect perch.
Ah, bliss.
But as fate had it - unfortunately for him - it wasn't meant to last. And after several hours of star gazing and plotting the many ways to annoy his idiot half-brother, the tingling sensation that was niggling at the back of his senses suddenly could no longer be ignored.
He tried to; really he did, for it was illogical to think that someone - excluding Inuyasha and Naraku - would be stupid enough to challenge him. Him: Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands and taiyoukai extraordinaire, but when the sensation of several tiny feet crawling rapidly on his bare leg - how in the name of kami they have gotten there anyway? - sent a violent shiver and caused goose bumps to erupt all over his body, he knew he could no longer ignore it.
So with a casual move fueled by an iron will - I will not scratch! - when he really just wanted to jump up and down and shake the whatever-they-were away, he moved away from his post and quickly evaluated his options, as the need to tear up his clothes - damn, they were now on his butt - became all-consuming.
He was even contemplating about sticking his leg in the meager fire that Jaken had conjured - his clothes be damned - but he really wanted to avoid the awkward glances and questioning that will follow the next morning; when his sensitive ears caught the sound of a nearby river.
With a relieved sigh he no longer cared to hide, Sesshomaru rushed in that direction. Several seconds later a mighty splash that would have earned him the envy of boisterous children everywhere could be heard as he dived into the water and for good measure he stayed there for almost an hour.
And if the next morning Jaken had any questions regarding his master's soggy instead of pristine appearance, he wisely kept his words this time, one look at stormy look the dog demon was sporting giving him all the answers he needed.
Somehow it was Inuyasha's fault, he just knew it.
xxx
"Brat, stop your winning!" Kipping an angry kitsune away from his sensitive ears was hard work for the hanyou, especially when the little fox was getting his revenge for the fact that Inuyasha had spilled his favorite 100 percent sugar, vanilla and strawberry flavored slushy two days age, somewhere near their last camp.
"KAGOME!"
"Inuyasha! SIT BOY!"
The end.