"Inu Yasha! The shard is in the back of his mouth!" Kagome shouted from Kirara's back as she and Sango tried to avoid the snake youkai's tail as it tried to swat them away.

"Got it!" Inu Yasha shouted as he jumped into the air and raised his claws. "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!"

Inu Yasha swung downward atop the snake's head and ripped him right down the middle, splitting the poor youkai in half. The little deep purple shard fell to the ground in the middle of the two halves of the snake's body. Kirara landed and Kagome hoped off of her back. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she bent down and picked up the little shard as the rest of her friends surrounded her.

"That thing only had one shard!?" Inu Yasha asked with disappointment evident in his tone.

"I'm afraid so, my friend," Miroku responded.

"Feh. Whatever, let's go find a place to camp away from this nasty thing," Inu Yasha huffed as he started into the woods, leaving his friends behind him to stare at his retreating form.

Kagome sighed and shook her head. "What's wrong with him?" Sango asked.

"I don't know. But it's getting dark, so we should probably do as he says," Miroku said. Kagome and the others nodded in agreement and took off after the hanyou.

They reached a clearing and set up camp. Miroku brought back wood for a fire and Inu Yasha brought back a kettle filled with water for his favorite dinner, instant ramen. They all sat around the fire and waited for the water to come to a boil. Sango sat next to Miroku, who tried to sit as close to her as possible, and she also had Kirara in her lap. Shippo sat in between her and Kagome as he lay on his stomach drawing with the crayons and paper Kagome had given him. Kagome was sitting next to Inu Yasha and watched him carefully. He sat next to her, arms crossed over his chest as he just stared into the fire beneath the kettle. She sighed again, but instead of remaining silent, she got to her feet. "Sango, could you take care of the noodles? I'm going to go take a bath," Kagome said softly, her gaze fixed on the ground.

"Sure," Sango said with uncertainty. "Kirara, go with her."

The twin-tailed fire cat youkai nodded and followed at Kagome's feet as she picked up her bag and started toward the hot spring nearby. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo immediately looked up at Inu Yasha who was staring up at them. "What?!" Inu Yasha exclaimed, wondering why they were glaring at them.

"What did you do this time?" Shippo asked demandingly.

"Hey, who said I had anything to do with it?" Inu Yasha stated.

"Well...considering you're the one that's been sulking..." Miroku replied.

"I didn't do anything. Just leave me alone," Inu Yasha said as he crossed his arms again, and fixed his eyes on the flames.