Year 5: Final Assessment

"Okay, Sesshomaru," Miroku laid back against his chair, taking in the tired looking demon in front of him. He claimed it was from long work hours, but one never could be too sure with patients. "So, how's work?"

"It is fine. I am merely finishing up last minute details before my flight to China."

"Yes, preparations for the great gathering correct?"

"Indeed, there is more to just leaving the country for two weeks then I originally realized."

"Yes."

"Hn."

"Now, your father had you come to me for one last appointment, he claimed you wanted to be the one to tell me what's going on."

"That is correct."

"Well, I'm all ears."

Closing his eyes so that the doctor wouldn't see his inner turmoil he told his therapist what was ailing him now. "Kagome will be in attendance at the gathering."

Arching an eyebrow, the doctor ran his fingers through his jet black hair for a moment before finally coming up with a response, "Oh?"

"Yes. And that isn't all."

"Then what is all of it?" he encouraged the man to talk.

"She will be attending...as the companion to the host."

"Companion? Who is hosting this year gathering?"

"Jun-Long."


Staring at the Hangzhou lake in admiration, Kagome sighed when she saw a number of ducks in the water, all in the midst of a race towards the sizeable piece of bread some children had just thrown a distance away. Shaking her head at the quacking fowl, she turned around to face Jun-Long who had brought her all the way out here to sightsee. Smiling at her he held up a stick which she looked for all of two seconds before jumping back, disgusted on what was on the wooden spears. "What the hell!" she screamed out in Japanese, making several people turn to the loud couple in the street.

"It's street food, didn't you say you wanted to try some?"

"What is that!"

"Deep fried scorpions! A Hangzhou specialty!" still carrying that gorgeous smile, he passed a skewer into her hands before taking a bite of his own, humming happily when the flavor hit his tongue. "You gotta eat it while it's still hot."

"Oh...okay!" waiting until Jun closed his eyes to better enjoy his next bite, Kagome tossed the stick behind her, smiling as the telltale splash of the food hitting the water reached her ears. "Mmmmm, that was good!" she said with fake enthusiasm, looking down at her toes to keep from being discovered. Peeking up at the dragon, she snorted when she saw he was looking around confused when he noticed her food skewer was nowhere in sight.

"Uh...Glad you enjoyed it…" he finally conceded. Shrugging he threw his stick into a nearby trash bin and grabbed her hand gently in his own, tugging her away from the beautiful jade water.

As they walked, Kagome didn't ignore the fact that his hand had yet to leave hers, giving them the appearance of being a couple. Adjusting her sunglasses with her free hand, the demoness reflected on this and the other touches the dragon had been giving her lately. Ever since her trip to Japan had scared her more than anything else, Jun had been more open in his pursuit of her affections. A peck on the cheek here, a hug there, these things might have seemed innocent to bystanders, but the demoness could feel the true intentions behind them.

"Oh, I almost forgot Kagome," stopping in front of Lingyin Temple he dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box and handed it to the demoness, a gentle smile on his face as always. "This is for you. It's just my way of saying thanks for accompanying me during the great gathering."

Curious she opened the box and gasped when she saw the beautiful silver choker that had been shaped like a dragon to wrap around her neck. It was incredible, to say the least, the design was so detailed, every scale and dip of the dragon's long body covered, an immaculate four-karat diamond set within the creature's eye. This must have cost a fortune! "Jun!" she cried out, "This is much too generous, I can't…"

"You can and will," he replied firmly. "After everything you've done, including skyrocketing my stock prices, it is the least I could do for you since you refused a raise."

"I only refused the raise because I would have been making more than Mikaela!"

"Mikaela didn't discover a two-thousand-year-old trade route. You did. And the fact the entire canal was littered with artifacts of various time periods, you're lucky I didn't offer you her job instead."

"Jun! That's so rude."

"No, it business."

"I'm not really sure…"

"In a situation like this, it is best to just say thank you."

Giving the dragon a small smile of her own she nodded and did as he suggested, promising to wear the necklace during the gathering's commencement ceremony.

"Good, now let's go, I want to show you the silk museum and then we can have dinner at the hotel or…"

"How about just eating out on the streets instead?" Kagome said instead, "All that rich food gives me a headache."

"I know what you mean." he replied. Pulling down his shades a little, the dragon eyed the demoness for a moment before setting them back on his face, not wanting to be spotted by fans and other random people. "Ah, the life of the dragon king. Never a moment's peace!"


Laying down on the guest bed in the family manor, Sesshomaru heard the piddling footsteps of his younger brother who was searching for him persistently. After finding out Nubis would be staying the night so that the family could fly to China together, he had been all over western heir, refusing to leave him alone even for a minute. The elder dog was way too proud to admit he was running from the half-demon, instead telling himself he was merely in the midst of a game of hide and seek.

"Nubis! Where did you go?!"

Ignoring his brother's cries, the dog demon instead focused on the one thing that had plagued his mind for five long years. Kagome.

He had already known who was hosting this year's great gathering, but the fact that Kagome of all people was serving as his date for the event had all but floored the dog demon. Though they hadn't called her out by name on the news, the picture of her they had run had told him all he needed to know. She looked so..different from before. It had only been a headshot but in the profile of her photo he had seen she had been incredible. Her hair was much longer than before, and though the picture failed to capture the side that carried her facial tattoo, he knew it was still there. What did the rest of her body look like he wondered?

Placing his hands behind his head, the dog demon pondered on how he would be able to get a private audience with her during the event. She hadn't spoken to him in five years, and according to Izayoi, it was because of her feeling ashamed that she had damaged him so completely. That was crazy in his opinion, it was being without her that was causing him distress, not the other way around.

His father had been displeased, but compliant. Just like Shin'ichi had told him he would be. His grandfather had been right about many things, but it was his final wish for his grandson that made rethink his approach when it came to the gathering and Kagome.

"Whatever you do boy, don't try to force her to be with you. She would only grow to resent you, that Sesshomaru is not the same as love"

What had he meant by force? He had asked the old man chuckling weakly he had responded cryptically. "Whatever your instincts tell you to do, do the opposite"

He supposed it meant not to listen to his beast when he found her, though even as he thought about his runaway beta, he could feel his instincts clawing at him, demanding to go to her now that he knew where she was and make her his again. His feral side insisted she would submit to him as she once did, but his rational mind was telling him that was the wrong way. Maybe he could use his instincts and his reasonable thinking together rather than interchangeably? But how? For the last five years he had been doing as his grandfather suggested, refusing to look for her any further after he failed to find her in China the first time, but the strain of not doing as he so desperately wanted to had put an incredible strain on his heart and mind. When he saw her he couldn't reject his instincts, yet at the same time, he couldn't hold her down and make her love him. What should he do? As Inuyasha ran up and down the hall still looking for his older brother, Sesshomaru fell asleep with only one thought in mind, 'The things I have planned for you Kagome.'


Getting off the phone with her father, Kagome wiped the tears from her eyes as the last chuckle left her lips. Her dear Socrates was nearing middle age, but the damn cat was just as loony as ever. Asil had just finished telling her about how the feline had been found recently in the hallway closet, a weird place considering the door was always closed and he should have had no way to get inside. The maid had opened it to grab a dustpan and upon seeing the cat inside had looked around and to her surprise found a female cat as well, looking mighty guilty of something dirty. Her cat had a new girlfriend apparently and from the looks of things, it was getting pretty serious.

Sitting down on the hotel bed, the demoness yawned tiredly, Jun having exhausted her from all the running around he had insisted they do today. Looking out her window on the hotel's water terrace, Kagome watched the setting sun with a dreamy gaze.

Only three more days until the great gathering would begin. Feeling her upper arms, Kagome gently prodded at the surgical steel implements that were inserted around that area. The blocks were there to prevent her priestess powers from rising up. A commission that was done by the barely known and slightly senile swordsmith Totosai. He did good work that much was clear. Since the surgery years ago during which she was in a coma thanks to Inu no Taisho, she hadn't had not one seizure. The blocks had taken over two months to get used to her body, however, leaving her with crippling pain that entire time, which had hurt worse than any other injury she had ever suffered in life.

Holding up her hand, she concentrated and grinned when the ball of blue light appeared in her palm, sparking with the combination of both her demonic energy and purification aura. This had proved to be an effect weapon, the few times she had used it in the woods behind her tropical house, she had managed to stun a few birds and even a giant tortoise once, but that had been an accident. The best person she had used it on in the past was Inu no Taisho however, smiling as the memory of him falling unconscious ran through her, the energy in her palms increased slightly in response, growing off of her glee.

She had discovered long ago that her powers were at their peak when she was in a good mood, otherwise, the energy was unstable and prone to flying out in whatever random direction she was pointing it in. Sighing she finally released the generated power from her body, letting it fly out the window and down into the lake where it sizzled out like fire to water. Immediately the tension left her body and Kagome felt a little bit less heated than before, which was about as bad as it got with her body now.

Crossing her legs, Kagome sighed as the realization that in three days time, the quinquennial gathering would upon her and with it the appearance of Sesshomaru and his family. While there was no doubt in her mind that the Taisho's all hated her by now, she couldn't help but wonder how her Anubis was doing and if he had managed to work through the problems that had been plaguing him since she had left Tokyo.

'You should go to him.' Once more her beast talked and once more she ignored it. She couldn't, not after everything she had put him through. When she was around him he had faced bodily injury, insults, and death trials, all for the sake of being a part of her life. She wouldn't lie and say it was only her beast that wanted him back because it wasn't, but her rational mind knew the difference between right and wrong and their relationship was wrong. Inu no Taisho's first mind had been correct, their relationship hadn't been right. It had only been desperation that had led him to her home that night with Izayoi. Kimi was merely looking for someone to blame for a bad situation and Kagome had been the easy target.

The great gathering would only last two weeks, and then Kagome would probably never even see the Western lord and his family past opening night. All the meetings she would be attending had nothing to do with Japan, Jun's pack sister and lieutenant Liquin would handle the only two on the schedule and those were both for the East and Southern provinces.

Sighing as she realized how ridiculous she sounded the demoness shook her head and headed for her bathroom where she prepared herself a nice relaxing bath. That was all she needed to do right? Relax. After all, how bad could it be?

A/N: Okay the end of this has come. Hope you enjoyed this installment of the series, the one shot will be posted tonight and the beginnings of the final part of this series will be started up. Since I filled most of you up on drama, I'm gonna be nice and be much more lenient with the final part of the series. Hope you've enjoyed! -Theores