Kagome took a deep breath, the grip on her sword tightened, and she shifted her weight in nervousness. Raising her hand she gave the wooden door a gentle tap.

"Enter." A cold voice commanded. She quickly shook off her uneasiness and walked though the door.

"Sesshomaru." She greeted him.

"Kagome." He acknowledged her without lifting his gaze from his paperwork. "Is something wrong? You seem..." He paused, thinking of the right term. "Troubled." He finally figured out the word and sighed.

"Me? Have you looked at yourself? You just paused in your sentence!" She stated. He'd never done that, nor had he sighed like that. She got a good look at him and did not like what she saw.

He was sitting in his usual spot, but his desk was piled with stacks of scrolls, papers, and human books. He had on his usual cold and emotional mask, yet his movements were slow and his concentration was lacking more then she would like. Others would not have noticed such things, but she had been around him long enough to catch the subtle changes in his behavior.

"You should not work so hard. Maybe you should take a break?" She tried to get him to rest, worried about his condition. She strolled over to his side. His usual calming aura was dulled, and filled with small pricks of stress, making her feel uncomfortable.

"This Sesshomaru does not need a break." He stated. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, 'this Kagome' thinks you do." She objected.

"Taking a break will only pile my work and make my job more difficult." He pushed away her kind gesture. She sighed. "Was there something you need? As you can see, I am busy and I do not have much time for your small talk." He told her.

"I wanted to spar with you." She gave him a straight answer, not wanting to bother him with her usual 'foolish' conversations.

"I am too occupied at the moment to entertain you with training. Bother Kage with your inconvenient needs." He declined her offer. She sighed. But he use to enjoy sparing with her...

"Alright, sorry I wasted your valuable time." She pouted. Turning around she slowly strolled to the door. Just as her hand touched the knob, his voice called to her, stopping her movements.

"Maybe next time?" He offered a rain check. She looked at him over her shoulder. His golden orbs finally locked with her deep blue and she gave him a small smile.

"You sure the 'Great Sesshomaru' will have the time off to play with me?" She asked.

"Of course." He reassured her.

"Alright then." She agreed.

"Next week." He conformed the arrangement time.

"Hmm..." She paused, as if considering it. "You sure you will not be taken? I mean, you are a very busy man..."

"I can set some time off if it means that much to you." He gave her a rare smile and she blushed. Maybe she was being too harsh on him? She did appear to him and ask out of the blue. She supposed he couldn't make room for her every time she was bored.

"Then it's a date!" She cheered. He chuckled and turned back to his paperwork while muttering 'foolish mikos'. She gave a small laugh. He had never changed, even after all these years...

She walked though the dark corridor going outside. Unlike her foxy friend, she could not jump out of a window to go outside, she must use the door. She was respected and as such she must mind her manners, even when she believed no one was looking. She sighed. The price she had to pay for being strong and connected.

Though sometimes she had to fight the urges to do silly things around people, she knew if she did something, since she was known to be Sesshomaru's bodyguard, it would make him look bad and she did not want that. To bad that fact only made living here even duller. What was the point in living in a castle if you couldn't hide in the dark crevasses and pretend to be Igor, fake hump and all, and jump out at people as they walk by, yelling 'yes~s master!' while limping away? What was the point in missing that opportunity, really? If only Sesshomaru would let her...

She sighed. Why was all her fun ruined? She mumbled and walked out of the large castle doors, going outside. She quickly went around the back of the building and looked around. She smiled when she found her target sparing with a solider she had never seen before. New recruit? She walked forward until she was a respectable distance and watched the small bout. Of course the new member had far less experience, yet he was not lacking in skill and flare. His moves were quick and unpredictable, catching the Raven off guard a few times. But she wasn't too surprised when it ended quickly in the Crow's favor. Even so, she believed the young man's skills to be quite good. With some training he could become a good addition to the army. He always had a good eye for talent…

With that in mind she gave a small and slow clap, applauding their training. The sound brought their attention to her direction, and they were both taken back by her sudden appearance. They quickly stood straight and bowed to her. She took a few steps and came within arms reach of them, a small smile on her face.

"Lady Kagome." Kage greeted her. She gave him a soft nod of her head in greeting, then look at the demon standing beside him. He came to Kage's shoulders and looked fairly young.

"It seems this lad actually had you sweating, Crow." She gave him a smirk, amused. The said crow blushed.

"Yes, he is quite skilled. His fighting style is unusual."

"Is he a new recruit that you admitted?" She asked.

"Yes." He smiled. "This is Renji." He introduced him.

"Renji." She nodded. "The name suits you." She complimented him. The boy blushed, but she noticed he did not bow. He has not been properly trained yet? He is very new...

"I-it's a pleasure- An honor-" He stuttered. "Lady Kagome." She couldn't help but laugh at his nervousness.

"Surprised to see me so soon after your admittance?"

"Y-yes- I mean...No?" He started to fidget. "What was the question again?" She continued to laugh at the boy, unable to hold her giggles. So many things he did wrong- It was quite a nice change of attitude compared to the 'sticks in the mud' she was used to being around...

"Was there something you needed, Lady Kagome?" Kage asked. When she was finally able to talk she turned towards Kage once again.

"I came here because I would like to spar with you, Kage."

"I am flattered that Milady would wish to spar with me, yet I am saddened to say I must decline your offer."

"Oh?" She wasn't really surprised. She knew he would once she saw him with the boy, but thought it would be polite to ask anyway.

"I have to train the young blood so he knows how to correctly address someone of your stature, Milady." She laughed when the boy blushed and scratched the back of his head in nervousness. "Maybe you should ask Lord Sesshomaru?" He gave his opinion.

"I have already asked him, he was too busy with his work to be bothered with my 'inconvenient needs'."

"I am sorry to hear that." He seemed surprised Sesshomaru would decline. She sighed. Even she was still surprised. This had been the first time he had ever refused a sparing match with her.

"Well he has been rather busy as of late..." She mumbled, as if trying to make an excuse for him.

"Of course. He has been upset with the resent struggle on the land." He agreed.

"Well, I suppose I am out of worthy sparing partners since you are busy as well..." She sighed.

"My Lady, please don't make me feel guilty."

"I would never do such a thing." She smiled, acting innocent. "Though..." She smirked and reached up, touching his cheek. "I would like to see your busy schedule open for me, next time I need you..." His wings twitched and a blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Of course."

"Good..." She reached out and gently touched one of his wings. His eyes widened, his blush spread across his elegant elf ears, and down his neck. "Your feathers are very soft..." She smiled.

"T-thank you."

"Keep up your excellent work, Kage. I would like to see some improvement on the rookie next time we meet." She patted his chest in encouragement. "Worthy enough to make up for this skipped engagement?" She sounded hopeful; giving him the conditions to make up for the fact he also refused her offer. So he wouldn't feel so guilty.

"Only the best." He replied.

"I have great confidence in you and Renji." She glanced at the blushing boy beside him and gave him a small smile.

Though in the end, it was too bad she was left without a sparing partner yet again. She sighed and turned around, walking away from the two demons, leaving them alone to continue their training. If only there was someone else she could pester...

Yoko sighed as he leaned further into the bark. What a peaceful day. He allowed his ears to droop, and his body relaxed as he read over the ink covered paper. Who knew human books could be so entertaining? He turned the page and his tail started to flick back and forth underneath the branch, showing his enjoyment. Nothing could possibly go wrong...

A familiar Vanilla sent wafted into his nose and he paused in his reading. He slowly turned his head and watched as his target strolled up to the tree he was stationed in. He smirked, closed his book, and then jumped down, landing gracefully beside her.

"What do I owe the pleasure of this fine and wonderful visit?" He asked.

He was actually taken off guard to see her so soon. He visited her yesterday, found out she was able to receive human books, and that night had took the new book from her nightstand, finding the strange note attached.

He bowed and gave her a small kiss on her knuckles. He was surprised when she did not shock him, but pulled her hand away instead. Has he his advances truly paid off? The thought made his mind reel with images of the jewel finally within his grasp.

"I wanted to know if you would like to spar with me." She gave him a straight answer.

"Spar?" He was perplexed by this sudden event. "Why, I am honored you would-"

"Cut the chatter fox. Answer with a yes or a no." She rolled her eyes, not wishing to be bothered with his flirting. He gave a small chuckle at her rushed behavior.

"Like I said before, I would never refuse you."

"Good." She sounded pleased. He was admiring her happy expression, until something heavy hit his chest.

"Oomph!" He grunted and looked down. He grinned when the first thing he noticed was her hand. "Why Kagome, I didn't know you meant that kind of sparing..."

"Shut it." She sighed. "If you would think beyond your pants, you would see it's a sword." She told him. "Now take it so I can let go." He smirked and grabbed the Katana she was so generous enough to provide for him. He looked at the sheath and noticed it was not very expensive looking or rare. He pulled out the sword and examined it but did not find anything special. He sighed and placed it back into its container. Nothing worth stealing...

"I have my own weapons, if you don't mind." He told her.

"Fine by me." She shrugged and took back the sword. She placed it at the base of a tree and pulled out her own blade. He noticed it was the Katana she used when they first met. "Whenever you're ready, Fox." She smirked. He snorted and laid his book on the floor for later. He then used some of his energy and created one of his favorite weapons. "A rose? Come on Yoko, you are supposed to spar with me, not give me more roses." He smirked and flicked his wrist turning the beautiful flower into a deadly weapon. She gave a long whistle, showing she was impressed. "Nice..."

"Thank you-" His eyes widened when she suddenly materialized in front of him. He ducked just in time, but some of his hair got in the crossfire of her quick slash. He jumped to the side, getting his distance. "I thought you said 'Whenever I'm ready.' " He argued.

"Too slow." She stated with a smirk.

He smirked as well, enjoying her forcefulness...

Kagome grunted in frustration. It has been hours and she has not been able to lay one hit on the fox. It not only upset her, it made her feel rusty! Though she should be thankful because he had not been able to hit her either. Were they really equal in sparing matches? It just seemed unreal. His used a whip, like Sesshomaru, yet he was very good at using other flowers as well. Why use this one? Maybe he wanted a challenge? Throwing a seed and watching his pet try and eat her was not very sporting. Wouldn't call it a spar either. It would be instantly turned into ash, so this would be his only opinion. Was that the only reason?

She shook her head. No, he probably wants to get close to steal the jewel. That must be it- wait- There was something wrong with that idea. He was using a distance weapon, he would need to use a close combat tactic to steal to jewel that way. Did he really wish to spar with her just because she asked? Suddenly, she felt her face getting flushed. Damn...

He sent another whip attack towards her and she quickly placed her miko energy into the blade. Use the katana as a shield she blocked the attack. She smirked when his weapon turned into dust. He stared at her with a puzzling expression and then he glanced at the burnt stem in his hand.

"You could have done that this whole time?"

"Of course." She smirked.

"Why not do so in the beginning of the battle?"

"This is not a battle, Yoko, this is a sparing match. The goal is to train my body and pass some time while doing it." She rolled her eyes and walked over to her forgotten sheath. "Though I must admit you were very good." She complimented him, placing her sword back into its case.

"Why, I am flattered..." He whispered into her ear. Her eyes widened in surprise, and a loud crack tore into the calm air. "Ouch. That was uncalled for." He stated, rubbing his bruised cheek.

"Sorry, reflex." She smirked. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"So you do let your guard down. It's just not often." He seemed pleased by this fact.

"You are just too quiet for your own good." She huffed, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Are you complimenting me yet again?" He smirked. "Twice in one day, that's a record."

"Its sad to see your personal record is so low. Not very many people compliment you, uh?" She twisted his words around.

"None that matters." He quickly responded, purring. He reached up and caressed her cheek. "But your words warm me, and make me happy..." She gave him a nice shock. He sighed and licked his burnt fingers. "Back to defending I see."

"Stop attacking. The sparing is over."

"I can never stop attacking a prey that is so delicious looking." He smirked. "Besides, how else am I going to pay for the kindness you showed to me last night?"

"Kindness?"

"Yes." He held up his other hand and she blushed, seeing the familiar rusty colored book. "I am happy to see you enjoy my company enough to give me gifts. Though I enjoy the books, something inside the story I do not quite understand, and I'm puzzled by it." He confessed, looking at the book.

"You? Confused?" She gently grabbed the book and gave it a good look over. "What are you confused about?" She innocently asked.

"Well, the man uses strange things to solve his cases. He is quite knowledgeable but I get stranded when he uses strange powers to figure some of the clues out."

"Powers?" She frowned, deep in thought, trying to concentrate on what he was talking about. Holmes doesn't have any powers..."Ah!" She exclaimed. She gave a small laugh, amused. Of course he wouldn't understand that. He raised an eyebrow at her reaction. "Its not powers. It's science."

"Science?" He questioned.

"It's a human thing..." She stated as if it would answer everything.

"I would like to know more about this, 'science'." He sounded interested. She sighed and plopped herself on the grassy floor. He gave her a funny look and she laughed.

"Come, sit. This might take a while..." She invited him to sit beside her. He seemed hesitant at first but his curiosity got the best of him and sat down as well.

"You are going to tell me about science?" He asked, sounding surprised.

"Of course. I don't mind telling others the knowledge I have on things like this." She told him. "What would you like to know first?"

"What is science?"

"Science is the human's way of gaining knowledge by studying natural things in their habitat, and doing much research on how they live and react to the world around it."

"Science is an observation?"

"There's more to it then that. There are different categories of science, but the one Holmes mostly uses is Natural Science. Such as his knowledge in Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry, and Earth Science, like Geology." She told him. She could see he was still very interested, but he did not understand what those things meant. She sighed. "Okay let me try Botany first, since you're the plant guy."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment…"

"I would." She suggested.

"That makes three. I am overflowing with a sense of-"

"You want me to teach you about human science or not?" She questioned, interrupting him.

"Hmm…" He seemed conflicted. He then sighed, lay on the grass and closed his eyes. "Continue."

"…" She rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. "Botany is the study of plant life and its development." She kept a watchful eye on the sly fox, yet he did not move. He continued to lay there, relaxed. "Take this grass for instance." She spoke plucking a small strand. "Grass might be grass, but there are different types all over the world. They study how they grow, and how they contribute to the Earth." She sighed. "Botany began with tribal efforts to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants, making botany one of the oldest sciences." She smiled remembering something a friend once told her. "Though long ago people use to believe tomatoes were poisonous because of its bright red color…" He gave a small snort and she laughed.

"Anatomy is a form of Biology, which the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment. Anatomy itself is the structure of living things. There are different kinds of Anatomy, such as: Human anatomy, Animal anatomy, and plant anatomy. A simple example is, hmm- take your body for example. You are demon yet you are in a human form. That would be part of the human anatomy though you have extra animal parts such as your ears and tail. If I cut you open there are veins, organs, and bones hidden underneath the skin. How they work, and the effect they have on keeping you alive, is what they study in particular."

"If you change into your fox form however…" She watched as his ears twitched and she smiled. "Most things are the same, you have a lung to help you breath and such but the size, placement, and even shape of some organs are different with animals. Take the brain for example, it is common that most animals on earth have smaller brains then a human, yet some parts of the brain, like the tectum, which controls movements and visual comprehension of your eyes, are far more advanced then humans." She shrugged when he cracked open an eye and looked at her.

"Geology is the study of the earth, and Astronomy is the study of celestial objects, such as stars, planets, and galaxies, that are outside Earth's atmosphere." She sighed. Stars and planets have always fascinated her the most.

"Outside the atmosphere? How can they study something that is out of reach?"

"To study something, most of it is about observation, then you come up with an hypothesis." She paused. "Hmm…" She tried to think of an example. "Take the sky for instance. The sky on the Earth is blue. I could say it's blue because a higher power made it that way. That could be my theory, yet that is not science, that is mostly related with religion, which is the opposite of science since it is by faith, not fact. The real reason is because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colors because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight." Seeing his confused expression, as he tried to take in this information, she couldn't help but laugh. "I'll get to that later I guess…"

"They are able to study space because of telescopes that humans invented. They were made just for that purpose. Well, the high powered telescopes. Some people use the smaller ones to be able to see far away." She placed her hands over here eyes like binoculars. "Unlike demons, humans can't see miles away without the help of lenses." She sighed and lowered her hands. "They use high powered lenses to see into space. That is how they study the stars. Humans are even able to go to the moon using their technology and abilities created by modern science."

"To the moon?" He seemed surprised by this. "You mean humans are able to go to the moon?"

"Yes."

"Impossible." He seemed to object that idea right away. She laughed.

"Don't believe me?"

"No demon is able to do such a thing. How could humans do it?"

"I told you, through science." She laughed. "The book I gave you is quite old, but its story setting is made in the period of 1887 to 1914. That was a time when modern science first took off. It has grown much, with the help of the human's knowledge, and skill to explore and question the things around it. Because of that, they are able to build things that can far exceed most ideas. One of the wondrous outcomes of science is man's achievement to send one of their own to the moon."

"Science…" She heard the fox mumble. She raised and eyebrow as she watched him sit up. "I had no idea…"

"You like science?" She asked.

"It has intrigued me, yet I still don't believe that humans were able to go to the moon. It's just not possible."

"A skeptic I see…" She laughed.

"Do not get me wrong, Kagome. You are an excellent teacher…" He reached out and gently touched her cheek. "Though I did find it hard to concentrate on your lovely voice when you were so close to me." He whispered into her ear while running his clawed hand through her hair. "It's quite arousing. I wouldn't mind continuing this student/teacher facade in the bedchambers -" A loud crack interrupted his speech.

Kagome huffed as she stomped away from the horny fox. Why couldn't he just keep his hands to himself? Damned fox…

He sighed and rubbed his sore cheek. Why does she have to be so violent? He smirked, lying back unto the grassy floor. Damned female…

NOTE: Hey guys. I tried my best with the science part of the story. I forgot most of it since I do not go to school anymore, so I had to use Wiki. Lol. So I apologize if I put anything that is wrong or incorrect.

Thank you for your time.

ShadowFoxMoon