.:. First Encounter .:.

Darkness that is all she could see if she looked deep enough. Why was he so cold, she knew his past, but she couldn't understand it? He was so beautiful in his own manly way, strong, brave and loyal to his wards. And yet his eyes showed nothing but darkness, even Inuyasha's eyes didn't show this much shadow and he had had a terrible past. She knew she was going to get caught looking sooner or later but she was ok for the moment whilst he was occupied listening to Rin ranting on about flowers and Jaken ranting to her about pestering her lord. He knew she was there he wasn't foolish in the slightest. As he turned to look at her she could have sworn she saw the slightest flicker of sorrow flash across those beautiful golden orbs, what was causing him so much pain?

Now she liked Inuyasha don't get her wrong but he was with Kikyo now, and she was happy for them both, and anyway she was more occupied working out Sesshomaru to worry about anyone else. What worried her more is that everyone of the Inu-gang who fought against Naraku has at some point been mentioned in the future, maybe not by name but in fairy tales all except him, hell even JAKEN got mentioned at some point. She had always wondered what happened to him, and now she was beginning to understand that maybe he didn't make it to her time. And this upset her.

Whilst she was deep in her thoughts she hadn't noticed that Sesshomaru had moved and was coming slowly closer towards her hiding place in the bushes, and it wasn't until he was towering above her and clearing his throat that she noticed him.

"Miko, would you care to explain as to why you are spying on this Sesshomaru and his wards?" he said in his icy cold voice.

"Erm…i…i…um" was all she could get out as she began to fiddle with her hands and turned bright red from being caught so stupidly.

"Miko this Sesshomaru asked you a question, and I expect an answer, why were you spying on this Sesshomaru and his wards. Do not make me repeat myself again?" he said a little more loudly but still keeping his voice icy and monotone.

After a big gulp to clear her throat she managed to squeak out something along the lines of "iwasworriedaboutyou…" (Translation: I was worried about you) she knew that Sesshomaru had heard her but she didn't dare look at him, been as he was probably about to kill her anyway.

That definitely wasn't the response he was expecting, why was this little human women worried about this Sesshomaru? He was fine, he needed more answers.

"Miko explain yourself?"

"Erm…well…it's just you look unhappy"

He knew that she wasn't telling him the whole truth he could smell it on her sent. But he knew if he pushed her she might break, he had, had many run ins with his brothers wench before and he knew she was fragile and as much as he enjoyed breaking fragile objects he had come to respect her and dare he say it care about her in some twisted sense, he didn't really know what these feelings for her were but he was sure they were annoying him now as he watched her fiddle with her hands and stumble over her words. Why was she afraid of him? She had never shown fear before so why now? There was definitely more to this than she was letting on and he wanted to know now!

"Miko I know that you are not telling me something, explain yourself now I am getting impatient" he tried to not feel guilty as she physically flinched under his gaze, and the waves of fear and anxiety washed over him.

"I erm…well…you…and I was…future…not there…worried" was all she managed to squeak out before going bright red and trying not to faint from all the blood rushing to her head at once.

Sesshomaru just sighed he knew he was going to be in for a long wait if he ever wanted to get the truth out of her, so he turned back round and returned to his wards, to give the Miko time to compose herself, which didn't take too long because before he knew it she was in front of him again, fidgeting with her hands again. Before he even know what he was doing he reached out and grasped one of her hand gently making sure not to cut her on his claws. Quickly trying to remember what her name actually was, he thought about how to phrase what he was about to say.

"Ka-Go-Me? Will you please explain why you are so worried about this Sesshomaru?" he said trying really, really hard not to kill her, feed her to AU-UN or other forms of torture. (AN: yes people Sesshomaru just said please lol)

This seemed to have the desired effect because the waves of fear and anxiety seemed to slow down and bit and she looked as if she was deep in thought about something before she finally said.

"The reason I am worried…is…is because I am from the future…and where I'm from we have this subject called History." She really didn't know if he was going to understand a word she was about to say but it was getting easier to tell him so she carried on. "well in this lesson we learn about people and events from the past, and last week…last week we were talking about the shrine maiden and the legend of the shikon no tama…and well we were talking about the evil that tried to take it and the group who fought against him, meaning all of us…well every…everyone was mentioned in some way or other…except…except you Sesshomaru."

She couldn't go on because she really didn't know what to say to him now he probably thought she was completely insane! Which by the way she was talking probably wasn't far off the truth, but when she looked at him she could of sworn his eyes looked soft, or was she really going mad!

"So why did this worry you? Why do you concern yourself with this sesshomaru's safely?"

'Oh god, oh god' he asked it how was she meant to tell the great lord of the west that she has a school girl crush on him! She was doomed he's going to kill her oh god. Before she could even come back with a decent answer her brain answered for her

"Because I love you" 'ooooh crap…I'm in trouble now'

Well that most definitely wasn't the reaction he expected; this little human woman LOVED this Sesshomaru, lord of the western lands, descendant of the great dog demon himself. He had always thought that this women loved his brother, but obviously the two timing Hanyou had finally chosen the clay pot over this Miko and she had somehow moved on to him. He didn't know what to say or do to be honest he was solid as a statue, even his heart felt like it skipped a beat…wait his heart…why was he feeling like this…was this…was this happiness? Yeap he's lost it.

"Miko you do understand what you are saying do you not, how and why do you love this Sesshomaru? Do I not scare you? Do you not fear me?" what was it with this girl.

"no…no you don't scare me, I've come to respect you as a friend even though you have tried to kill me countless number of times over the years I still respect you even know, and well I just really like you is all." She said whilst once again blushing herself to death. (AN: I wonder if someone can blush themselves to death?)

Why, why hadn't he realised it before when he had spotted her looking at him when they accidently bumped into each other on their travels, and when they were fighting she was more concerned for his well being then her own or even Inuyasha's the signs had all been there he was just too blind to see them, then again how had he noticed her if he hadn't of been looking in the first place. Was it that he was just as infatuated with her and she him? Surely not, he couldn't be following him his fathers and brothers he? All this pointless thinking was giving him a headache he needed time to think this through better.

"Miko you will relieve yourself of my presents now, I have no more time to be messing around when I need to find Naraku and attend to my lands and wards. Good day to you" and with that he got up and left, with the beginnings of a headache starting and leaving a very, very downtrodden Miko behind him.

She couldn't believe it, she could not believe that she had just announced that she liked him and then he had the cheek to shoot her down. Why did she put herself in these situations, first Inuyasha and now this…is she doomed to be alone forever. No she told herself she shouldn't think like that. But even so she could still feel the prickle of rejection in the backs of her eyes and the warm liquid that followed it flowing silently down her face.

'I need a bath, and relax. But first i really needed to speak to someone about this', and that someone was Sango only problem was finding her.

Since Kikyo and Inuyasha were now mated and Miroku and Sango had just given up and got married anyway regardless of the Naraku situation, the group was even more difficult to find as they tended to split up to have 'couple time' she didn't mind this because that would be selfish of her but there's only so much time you can spend with Shippou and Kilala before you begin to feel empty, as you watch the other couples in the group hugging and kissing. They didn't leave her out of the group anymore though because of it and they still all had a strong bond, but it was just different now was all. I mean Sango still slapped Miroku every now and then and Kagome still Sat Inuyasha when he was rude to her or Kikyo, mainly because they had decided that it was a good way of keeping him in line for a while, they would take it off eventually but not yet.

Luckily or not because she was so off in her own little world she didn't realise when a very worried looking Hanyou jumped down from the trees above her, and ended up walking right into him. And evidentially landed right on her ass.

"Kagome where have you been!? And why do you smell of my brother? What's going on why did you leave the camp? Shippou was worried sick? You're not leaving are you?" she didn't really have much time to think about all the questions before she just spoke her mind and said.

"Nothing happened, I was just talking to him is all, I'm coming back now if you would help me find camp…"

Inuyasha might be dense but he could smell on her that, that wasn't everything that had happened but he decided that pressing her about it would only get him Sat and he didn't really want to have to pull himself out of a crater for no reason, so he just 'Feh' at her and then they made their way back to the camp. He also knew that something was up with his brother because Kagome didn't even have a scratch on her which was rare for the ice prince not to hurt a human who was bothering him, and he knew just how…er…upfront she could be even to Sesshomaru. Something was going on here and he wanted to know what.

When they finally got back to camp, Kagome was surprised to find that everyone was there and actually looking worried for her wellbeing, she knew they might have been but she thought they would of split up. As usual she was hit in the middle by a ball of orange with tears in its eyes, her little adoptive kit. Who decided that he was going to ask her a million questions that she only caught about 3 of, so she answered what she could and then went and sat down between Sango who looked concerned and Kikyo who looked worried but otherwise fine. She was about to ask Sango to go for a walk with her, but she beat her to it instead, and before she knew it she was being almost dragged to the nearest hot springs with only enough time to grab what she wanted for a wash.