A/N: Have I ever mentioned that I can be a terribly awful procrastinator that will open a document, stare at it, type a sentence, save, close the document, and repeat for approximately a month? If it makes you feel any better, my procrastinating on this rendered me unable to finish anything else artistic and/or fun either. I seem to have lost my muchness. But I digress. Here's the next chapter. Cheers.

Chapter 3

To the Land Where

And so Kagome slept through night and day, in and out of weeks, and almost over a year. At least, that's how Sesshoumaru would tell it. In fact, it was the very next morning after the princess's auspicious arrival that the lord of the castle sat perched behind her head.

It was an indignity that must be suffered. If only his great and terrible sire could see him, now.

A feline paw flexed, extended forward, and poked.

The sleeping girl batted the paw away.

"Ngnnn… purble hippo… my feather..."

When his two following attempts met much with the same result, Sesshoumaru turned to drastic measures. Kagome found herself startled into consciousness by a prickly, scratchy tongue dragging over the expanse of her forehead.

"Eugyah!"

Huge citrine eyes set in an inverted face came into focus above her, as she blinked blearily.

"You are late."

"Whu?" Kagome queried, intelligently.

Minutes later, Kagome was dressed and stumbling after her host down one of the never-ending corridors. She had not noticed the night previous, but there were murals everywhere. Oddly, they seemed to consist primarily of enormous dogs. Kagome shrugged to herself; she had an obnoxiously large unicorn painting gracing her rooms. Who was she to judge the quixotic whimsy of her feline host?

"So," Kagome ventured, realizing that Lord kitty-cat Sesshoumaru seemed to be the strong silent type and that any conversation would be dependent upon her efforts, "what's for breakfast?"

He did that weird, superior snort thing before responding.

"Breakfast ended hours ago. The meal at hands is luncheon. And you have stories to tell."

And so it was. Kagome had nearly finished recounting her purpose and tales of travel when a pair of disembodied human hands caught her eye.

"What is that?"

The hands gathered up several empty platters before drifting back into obscurity.

"A servant, naturally. Now come; this one wishes for you to accompany him on this afternoon's hunt."

"Uh, that's really nice and all, but I should probably gather up my dogs and get going."

"Nonsense. The path you traveled was rendered impassable by the storm of yestereve. It would be imprudent to allow you to leave until the way forward is clear."

For some reason, Kagome felt as though he were saying something other than what he actually said.

The hunt was unlike anything Kagome had expected.

Up to this point, Kagome had thought that the cat-lord's palace was relatively empty; however, this notion was completely shattered by the sheer number of felines in the woodland hunting grounds. Cats of all sizes, shape, and colors ran about hunting mice, play-fighting, and one even seemed to be riding a baboon complete with miniature saddle. It was, in short, gloriously chaotic.

"I thought you said this was a hunt, Lord Sesshoumaru."

"You are correct in asserting that the term hunt is generous in regard to their activities. Though, such is the nature of felines. They will do as they please."

An abrupt roar preempted any further exploration of the topic. The baboon had thrown its rider and was bearing down on one of the kittens, its snapping maw making quick work of its bit and bridle. Kagome had drawn her sword before she could think and slashed the beast across its side.

Furious red eyes turned to her, and suddenly, the princess was dealing with the business end of the baboon. Through thrust and parry she was able to land many blows and ward off its advance, but her efforts seemed to have no effect in actually felling the enraged creature. Something large and flashing dropped from above, and then as suddenly as it began, the skirmish ended. The baboon took a few faltering steps before falling to the ground.

The forest had grown deathly quiet, and Kagome glanced around to see all of the felines seemed to be focused intently on her. No, that wasn't right; they were focused on the beast, and the cat-lord whose fangs were still embedded in its fleshy neck.

Sesshoumaru dislodged himself and regarded Kagome with gleaming interest.

"You are quite adept with a sword, Princess."

"Oh. Well. You know. It sorta comes with the territory of your father thinking that you're a boy for most of your life," she shrugged offhandedly, and then she squinted a bit, leaning forward, "Is it dead?"

"Subdued. This creature was a recent acquisition that should never have been brought to the hunt in the first place."

The sudden scrabbling and scurrying informed Kagome that the lord's court had fled his impending wrath.

"Though, this one must suggest that such large game is more what you had in mind for a hunt, no?"

Kagome grinned. "Well, normally, I'd being going after the game, rather than it coming after me."

"Hn. Come. We must discuss your prize."

"My prize?"

"You saved the life of a member of this one's court, Princess. It is only proper to gift you the means to attain what you desire most."

Several days after the adventure in the woods, Princess Kagome sat with the cat-lord and turned the object held in her hand.

"It's a walnut," she remarked unimpressed. "Don't get me wrong, it's a really nice walnut, but how will this help me gain my father's favor, when he asked for a dog?"

Sesshoumaru smirked in his enigmatic 'I'm a cat, and I know everything.' way.

"Things are not always as they seem, Princess. Bring it to your ear, and listen."

Doing so, she had to admit that the growling and yipping emitted from the nut was unmistakably canine.

"The dog is inside?"

"Do not release him before reaching your father's court. Collar him once released. It would also be best for you turn in early this eve, if you desire to return in time to claim victory over your siblings."

Kagome's brow furrowed. "That's not right. I still have over two months and a half before I need to be back."

"The date is much later than you think. Perhaps your travels have diminished your capabilities of counting time," he sniffed imperiously, "The date you supplied as the deadline of your challenge is in two days."

Shrugging off his catty attitude, she focused instead on the important bit Sesshoumaru just said. It just was not possible.

"But then, there's no way that I can make it back in time!"

"Under normal circumstances, perhaps, but you must concede that your circumstances are anything but normal."

The world literally flew past as Kagome sat astride Sesshoumaru's personal steed. A dragon. A two-headed dragon. A two-headed dragon made of wood. Logical incongruencies aside, the journey was quite invigorating.

"There, Ah-Un! That's the meeting spot!"

The dragon alighted, allowing Kagome to slide off. Her brothers had yet to arrive, rendering the princess unable to startle them and show off her loaner dragon. Turning back to rue this development with the aforementioned dragon, she ended up being the one startled by its sudden non-existence.

Well, that was certainly inconvenient.

Kagome whiled away the hours waiting for her brothers' arrival by examining the walnut. It was easily four sizes larger than any nut had a right to be, yet that was to be expected if there actually was a dog inside. Kagome rather doubted that even the talking cat-lord could appropriate a dog small enough to fit in a normal sized nut.

The nut's resident remained suspiciously quiet throughout her perusal, until she fumbled and nearly dropped it, resulting in a startled yelp and angry yipping. At least there really was something in there, and she had not being hearing things before.

Miroku arrived sometime after Kagome became bored with inspecting the nut, cradling a little ball of fluff under his arm.

He had only just begun needling Kagome as to where her little dog was when they were interrupted.

"This is ridiculous. You're an affront to my masculinity."

And then Bankotsu popped into view, complaining to a decidedly adorable bat-eared dog, which he was holding at eye-level by its scruff.

"Bankotsu! He's just a little thing! Be nice to hi- er, her!"

And thus the three siblings continued their trek home, squabbling all the way.

Kagome and her brothers were a great deal cleaner and noticeably frillier when they arrived in the throne room hours later.

Standing before their father, there was no small amount of elbowing and bickering before settling on presenting their hard-won offerings in birth order.

King Totosai, having long since fallen asleep while resting his chin on his hand, was jolted awake by his eldest thrusting a little tan dog to his chest.

"Ooh! A puppy!"

Bankotsu stalked back to the others, rolling his eyes. Miroku offered his little ball of fluff more gently and was likewise greeted with enthusiastic cooing over the small creature.

Meanwhile, Kagome pulled out her walnut and cracked it open to find a golden acorn and a band of beads too small to be a bracelet and too large to be a ring.

She huffed, causing her bangs to drift up momentarily. Very funny, Lord Sesshoumaru.

Gently chipping open the acorn revealed the loveliest little dog Kagome had ever seen. And it was very, very angry.

Managing the wriggling and adorably growly creature with one hand, she slipped what was apparently meant to be its collar over its head.

The dog stilled, its little aurulent eyes glaring up at her balefully. Sensing its undisguised killing intent, she wasted no time in foisting off her ill-tempered charge.

"This one's my favorite!" King Totosai declared, squishing the dog to his chest and nuzzling its little head.

The small creature vehemently protested this treatment, yipping and mouthing at the king's hands.

"Well, isn't that precious? Think I'll call'er… Fifi!"

'Fifi' stopped what he was doing and looked terribly offended.

"I think it's a boy, Father," Kagome offered, preening ever so slightly over her father's favor.

"Fifi's a good name," the King defended, "It suits her."

Kagome patted the dog consolingly.

"Sorry, pup. I tried."

The king then looked up, regarding his children as if he had just remembered something terribly important.

"Where've you three been, anyway? Didn't even bother to write."

Kagome floundered back with her mouth opening and closing noiselessly.

Bankotsu developed a tic in his right eye.

Miroku hedged, dubiously, "Father, you promised that whoever brought you back the best tiny dog would have your throne."

King Totosai stared wide-eyed and blankly at his children.

"…Did I, really?"

A/N Numero Dos: On a semi-related note, there's new(ish) art for this, which can be found on Dokuga by visiting my profile, or on DeviantArt under the title "The Three Tasks." (Fourth result at the time of writing.) Check it out if you want to know how Sesshoma-kitty and the little dog 'Fifi' look. And Kagome. She's there, too. For the curious, as I didn't explicitly state the breeds above, Bankotsu contributed a Chihuahua, Miroku: a Pomeranian, and Kagome: a Papillon.