(A/N): Thak you for the reviews and I hope this chapter meets expectations. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not Inuyasha or the characters involved. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I will specify the characters are mine when they are intorduced.

Now...On with the fic!

Chapter Three: Accepting

Kagome was stunned. How could she owe her life to Sesshomaru? She wouldn't mind owing him something like twenty dollars, but owing her life was completely different.

Kaogme laid down on her futon in awe. She never expected to live trough her last encounter with Naraku. She was completely resigned to die at the bottom of the Bone Eater's well. She had no intentions of owing her pathetic excuse for a life to anyone, especially Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru.

Kagome paused at his name. She had not seen him since the final battle with Naraku. She remembered seeing him standing by on the sidelines of the battle area. He wasn't doing anything, just watching. Kagome had made eye contact with him for about five seconds until she heard Inuyasha cry out in triumph. She turned her gaze away from Sesshomaru to see the damage that had been accomplished.

Apparently, Inuyasha was able to deliver a deadly blow to Naraku's heart, which just happened to be hidden inside of the demon infant that he had created in order to protect and hide his heart. Kagome looked away from Inuyasha's victory to glance at Sesshomaru once more. To her surprise she caught sight of Sesshomaru leaving with his little ward, Rin, Kohaku, Jaken, and Ah-Un.

Kagome was somewhat confused as to why he had just left.

Did he just come to watch? Or was he here for something else? Kagome had thought. The girl half expected Sesshomaru to push Inuyasha out of the way so that he could kill Naraku himself. After all, since Naraku had stolen Rin, Sesshomaru had begun his own hunt for the deranged half demon.

The fact that Sesshomaru did not help his brother had not surprised Kagome. What did her was the fact that he just watched and disappeared as soon as the altercation was over.

Maybe he was looking out for Inuyasha she began to think but then quickly rejected the idea.

Kagome was still looking at Sesshomaru's place of exit when she saw Kikiyo enter the scene. Kagome saw the light in Inuyasha's eyes and instantly she knew that she would never important to Inuyasha. She didn't have time to dwell on this fact though. Before Naraku truly died he expelled a pair of thick tentacles with all the strength he could muster in his final moments. He picked up both Inuyasha and used every ounce of strength he had left and he threw in opposite direction.

That's all that Kagome remembered before she began pulling herself in the direction of the well. Luckily for her Naraku had thrown her in the direction of Kaede's village. However he didn't throw her directly in front of the well so she had to drag a long way. During her efforts she managed to tear apart most of her school uniform. She didn't care though; she just wanted to get home.

Unfortunately for her the world had different plans.

Kagome reached the bottom of the well only to find that the path way to her time had been sealed.

The God's must be really made at me today. Kagome had thought sardonically.

Kagome began to lose consciousness at the bottom of the well. Then she had woken up in old lady Kaede's home facing her current situation.

Kagome looked over to Kaede incredulously. She couldn't really owe her life to Sesshomaru could she?

Of course you could and now you do, she told herself. Her heart sank. Not only was she unable to get home, now she owed her life to an uppity dog demon prince.

Geez… if it's not one thing it's another, not only has Inuyasha saved my life countless times, now his brother, his emotionless Brother has saved me too. What or who else will I owe my life to before I truly do die.

Kagome contemplated her situation. She knew three things for certain.

She knew that she was still stuck in the feudal era. She knew that Kikiyo had gone after Inuyasha in order to treat whatever wounds he had obtained. She knew that she owed her life to Inuyasha's elder brother, Sesshomaru.

What am I going to do…I can't go home any way other than the Bone Eater's well, which isn't working as of right now…now I don't know how to get home…am I just supposed to stay here for the rest of my love?

A tear slipped down Kagome's chalky face. Lady Kaede saw this and went to comfort Kagome. She pt a hand on Kagome's shoulder and began to move in a consoling motion in order quell her sobbing.

"Ye will be alright young Kagome," lady Kaede stated. She did not know what was hurting the young girl more, her recent discovery of being indebted to Sesshomaru, or the realization that she was unable to get home to her time. Kaede figured that it was a combination of the two.

What ever it may be, I will be here to help her through it as much as possible.

With this thought in mind, Kaede laid her hand on Kagome's forehead and told her what she had already stated to herself.

"Thank you," was all Kagome could say before she hissed in pain. During her sobs one her ribs had been displaced.

"It seems like your recovery will be a slow one young Kagome," said lady Kaede. Kagome was only able to nod her head in understanding.

When I get better, Kagome began to say to herself, I'm going to take care of myself so that no one else will have to.

Kagome let Kaede tend to her troubles while she let her mind wander.

I wonder what it will be like, she thought, to take care of myself.

…

Kagome took one last glance over her shoulder in order to see the old village that she was leaving behind. It had been four years since had been caught on the other side of the well; the side that contained evil demons, half-demons, and clueless gods. However even with all of its flaws, the feudal age of Japan had become like a second home to her. Sure she missed her home back in the twenty-first, more than anyone could know, but she found the frequent silence of the feudal era relaxing.

As Kagome made her down the bottom of the hill that she was currently on, she began to think of all the things that had transpired due to her extended stay at the village. The event that stood out the most for her was her training to become a priestess. It had been a grueling process for both her, lady Kaede, and the village. During this time, she was still recovering from some her more extensive injuries, like the nasty bruise that had decide to make Kagome's knee its knew place of residence.

Kagome had been tasked with paying attention to what old lady Kaede had to say, while doing her best not to wince in pain every time she was forced to practice her archery. There were many times when a tear would its way into the corner of Kagome's eye. At first she had let these stray tears fall, but in time she learned to hold them back. She found that this action helped her to hit her target more often than not

The hardest part of Kagome's training for everybody in the village had been her practice with sacred and sealing arrows. These two techniques required a lot of skill and patience that Kagome didn't exactly posses. It had taken her at least a year to learn hoe to effectively apply the techniques and another six months to skill perfect her skill. When the young maiden had finally mastered her bow and arrow it was a joyous day for the villagers. They would no longer have to practice what they had so rightly dubbed the "duck and cover maneuver."

Kagome laughed at her last memory. She was glad she was still able to laugh. After what Inuyasha had put her through, she had had a lot of emotional recovery to accomplish. However she had she been getting progressively better. She no longer sobbed at the sound of Inuyasha's name. She had even begun to laugh at his name. However the laughing mechanism had been put in place by her subconscious in order to mask her true feelings of pain and resentment. Initially it had been for the benefit of everyone else around her, but it soon began to help her recover as well. That still didn't help to put her heart at ease. Inuyasha had made this impossible for a while longer.

The newly established priestess put all thoughts of the half-demon out of her mind.

I have a mission that I have to complete, so I don't have time to be thinking of that jerk.

It was true. Kagome did have a mission to complete. She was traveling to a nearby, but not to close village in order to help them with a demonic infestation. She hoped to help them get rid of their problem as easily as possible. In all honesty she was terribly nervous about her task.

What if I screw up, what if I hurt someone and what if…were her thoughts for a while, until she stopped herself.

And what if I spend the rest of my life worrying about all of the "what if" possibilities? No I can't to do that. I have a life to live and now I can take care of myself in order to live it.

How ever at the end of her testimony to herself, she made it to the bottom of the hill she was walking down and promptly tripped.

…

Sesshomaru stumbled forward, landing on his right hand ever so gracefully.

What the hell? He thought as he picked himself up from the ground. He turned around to see what he had tripped over. Apparently it was just some priestess not paying attention to where she was walking. Sesshomaru brushed past her, he didn't feel like dealing with something so trivial.

The demon prince turned to leave. He needed to get back to Rin and Jaken. Kohaku had taken Ah-Un earlier in order to look for his sister Sango. Because of this Sesshomaru was wary about leaving Rin and Jaken to their own devices. That never seemed to work out well.

"Well that was fun," the priestess said aloud. She had gotten up in order to dust herself off. As she brushed the pants of her hakama Sesshomaru whipped around in order to face her. In the process of dusting herself off, the priestess had managed to send her scent in the direction of the demon prince. His nose recognized the scent immediately; he less than pleased by this fact. This was a scent that agitated him to no end, for various reasons. This was a scent that he had tried to forget.

"Kagome."

The priestess turned around at the sound of her name. Sesshomaru was surprised, he thought he had only spoken her name in is mind.

Well obviously not. A voice at the back of his mind told him. He chose to ignore it for the sake of his sanity. The demon prince looked back to Kagome.

Sesshomaru watched as the girl reeled in shock. Her mouth opened multiple times, but just as quickly as it had opened it closed once again. The open and close pattern lasted for another forty seconds before Sesshomaru turned to leave. He was sure that Rin and Jaken had gotten into some form of trouble; he needed to go pick up any collateral damage that they had managed to leave behind.

"Wait," Kagome started. "I need to ask you something!"

Sesshomaru turned around and looked her straight in the eye.

"I'm busy."

Sesshomaru made his way over to the nearby forest and found a point of entry. As he made it through the opening he was unpleased to see that the Kagome girl was still following him. She looked desperate, perhaps slightly confused. She stared directly at Sesshomaru to see whether or not she had gotten his attention. Once she was sure she had she continued with her earlier train of thought

"Why did you do it?"

Sesshomaru looked at her and kept his mouth closed. Though he had a rather good idea of what "it" was he wanted her to say it. He didn't feel like speaking more than necessary.

After a while Kagome caught on and she rephrased her question.

"Why did you save me from dieing in the Bone Eater's well?"

Sesshomaru contemplated answering. Truly he'd much rather leave and go back to make sure Jaken hadn't let Rin go off on her own and get hurt. Even so, he felt that the girl in front of him deserved an answer. Besides the answer that he had was most certainly not the answer that she was looking for. Sesshomaru thought it would be interesting to see how she reacted.

Humans always have over exaggerated responses and this girl will be no different.

With that thought in mind, Sesshomaru opened his mouth and answered Kagome's query.

(A/N): Thank you to those of you that are reading this fic. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can. Keep sending in your reviews and I'll see you in the next chapter.