10/14/17 And here is a new chapter for you all. I may try to write a Halloween special for Ranma 1/2 (If you haven't read or seen this one it is a must). I am still thinking about a Halloween special for Inuyasha also, but not sure if I have time for both. So I may be delayed in updating this story a bit but don't worry I have it all mapped out and it doesn't take me to long to get it all down so you will not be left hanging for long.

'Beast Talking'

'Thoughts'

"Talking"

~~~000~~~

Kagome and Inuyasha walked silently back to their camp site, hardly even looking at one another. Finally Inuyasha broke the silence by asking if she needed a ride back the rest of the way to camp since she had spent the better part of the day already walking.

"No thanks, Inuyasha. We are almost back anyway, I think I can make it the rest of the way with no problem." Kagome responded while sneaking a glance at him.

"Yeah sure, whatever." Inuyasha mumbled while quickly turning his attention back to the path in front of them as Kagome caught him staring at her. "You know you really should be more careful when you go out next time. There are so many demons and even humans lately that have a grudge against us. It's not safe to stray so far away without telling anyone." Inuyasha said while taking a moment to kick a rock before continuing, "I know, I know, you can take care of yourself but I can't help it…..I….I worry about you, I don't know what I would do if something happened to you."

Kagome's jaw about hit the floor. 'Did he just say what I think he said? That almost sounded like an apology and a declaration of his feelings for me! What next?'

As if sensing he had let to much of his feelings slip a light blush crossed his face and he quickly added, "I mean beside if something happened to you where would we get all that yummy nija food and then there is your mom and brother. They would be so mad at me for letting something bad happen to you that I would never hear the end of it."

Kagome's emotions quickly settled from shock to outrage. "Oh so you were only worried about your food supply ending or having people mad at you?! And here I thought you actually cared about me and wanted me around, silly me." With that Kagome picked up the pace back to camp leaving a stampering Inuyasha behind her. 'I should know better than to try and read into what he says. He is never going to want me the way I want him to.'

~~~000~~~

Sesshomaru's group had travelled non stop since parting ways with Inuyasha and Kagome. Rin sat happily upon A-Un clutching her newly acquired stash of flowers reflecting on the 'mostly' enjoyable day she had spent gathering them with Kagome, while effectively tuning out the ramblings of Jaken. Jaken for his part was attempting to give Rin a harsh tongue lashing for worrying their Lord with her disappearance and causing him to engage in battle to defend her.

Sesshomaru however was attempting to ignore them all while he reflected on the strange behavior of the Miko. When he had observed her with Rin she appeared to be extremely patient, kind and attentive with the overly energetic young girl and took the time to answer every question from Rin, something that neither himself nor Jaken were able to do. Then when that demon attacked she defended Rin without a second thought and had taken extreme care when dealing with her injuries. He had always assumed humans to be a selfish race and not one that would endanger their own lives for another that hardly knew, but this Miko did. However, the most puzzling behavior from the Miko was how she didn't appear to be scared of him and even had enough courage to touch him in an attempt to care for his wounds.

'That Miko is a interesting little human.' Sesshomaru's beast said from inside his cage within Sesshomaru.

'Hm, that she is.' He responded, while continuing to ponder her.

'We wouldn't mind encountering one such as her again. It is not very often for us to encounter someone like her that is not only good with our Ward but also extremely protective and courageous. She also had such an unusual, yet strangely appealing scent about her. Normally humans are just foul and smelly creatures. We must find out more about her.'

'She is my brother's mate. We will have nothing to do with her.' Sesshomaru responded while ignoring any further comments from his beast as he brought his attention to the rest of his pack.

"So, in the future Rin," Jaken said as he continued with the lecture that Rin was obviously completely tuning out, "do not wander off or next time Lord Sesshomaru may decide to just leave you and then where would you be?"

"Enough Jaken." Sesshomaru demanded. "We will stay here tonight" He said while he lowered his demonic cloud towards the ground. Rin happily chirped in response what a wonderful place to stop for the night.

Once they landed Sesshomaru sat himself down below a large tree as the rest of them set up for the night. Rin rushed off to find some berries to include with their evening meal, while Jaken quickly unpacked some of their supplies to prepare for dinner. Once Rin returned Lord Sesshomaru was served and the rest of the group retreated to their own areas to eat their dinners. Jaken tended A-Un while Rin sat down with her flowers to work with while she eat.

Once she started to unpack the flowers she noticed that some of Lady Kagome's medicinal herbs were mixed in with her items. At first she was going to just dispose of them since she didn't know enough about them to make use of them. Then she decided they may make a nice contrast to the flowers when she was making her gifts, so she decided to incorporate them instead of wasting them.

Rin quickly made a flower bracelet for Lord Sesshomaru that could easily be hidden beneath his sleeve as she knew he would never wear anything else. For Jaken however, she made not only a lovely flower necklace but also a headband. She smiled to herself knowing how much Jaken would hate them and try to refuse only to ultimately being forced to wear them anyway, she really did love how much they torment the little toad demon. She chuckled evilly as she looked over her creations. She wiped a small amount of sweat from her forehead, despite the cool night, as she stood and gathered the items. She excitedly bounced over to Lord Sesshomaru and offered her small trinket of affection. Sesshomaru questionly eyed the small flower bracelet before looking up into the hopeful face of Rin. With a small annoyed sigh he raised his hand to the young girl so she could place it upon him. Rin squealed in delight as she quickly fastened the bracelet to him. As her small fingers brushed his skin he noticed they were unusually warm.

"Rin, are you well."

"Yes my Lord. Why do you ask."

"You feel a bit warm against this Sesshomaru's skin". He stated then raised his hand to touch her face once the bracelet was attached.

"Rin don't tell me you have gotten yourself sick, child." Jaken yelled while he approached them. "Lord Sesshomaru can not be bothered with dealing with a sick human child. You must take better care of yourself to not be a bother to our Lord."

"Jaken silence." Sesshomaru said as he cut him off. "Tend to Rin."

"Y-Yes my Lord. Rin come."

Rin followed Jaken as she hid her necklace and headband for him behind her back. Once she caught up to him she quickly placed the items upon him which caused Jaken to scream and attempt to escape from the detestable flowers that Rin love to pester him with at every turn.

The scream from Jaken drew Sesshomaru's attention back to the pair and he told Jaken to stop his insesent struggling and accept Rin's gift. Begrudgingly Jaken allowed the items to be placed upon him then set to work on checking out Rin.

Rin sat down while Jaken started to take her temperature and check her out in general. Once she was seated with nothing else to distract her she felt her energy quickly escaping her and the heaviness of her eyes start to weigh her down. Jaken noted she did have a slight fever but couldn't find any other ailments so he instructed her to retire for the night before reporting back to Sesshomaru on her condition.

~~~000~~~

Sango, Miroku and Shippo sat worriedly around the campfire waiting for Inuyasha and Kagome to return. "It's taking too long Miroku. Maybe we should go out looking for them in case they got into some trouble. You know as well as I do that Karuga and that Maru guy are bound to show back up sometime." Sango made to stand up when Miroku grabbed her arm and pulled her back down to the ground beside him and patted her leg.

"Don't worry Sango, Inuyasha with her. I am sure they are fine They probably are just making up after their fight this morning. I am sure they will be back any time now." Just as the words came out, Kagome came stomping into the camp with Inuyasha hot on her heels. "Then again…..may be not."

"Will you stop Kagome! Just talk to me and quick acting so crazy."

"I don't want to hear anything else from you right now. Knowing you, you will just manage to stick your other foot in your mouth. Just do yourself a favor and quit talking."

"Quit telling me what to do Kagome! And what are you talking about putting my foot in my mouth. I never did that."

"SIT BOY!" Kagome screamed as she spun around to face him. Inuyasha's face slammed into the ground effectively cutting off anything else he was going to say. "Just leave me alone Inuyasha. I have work to do. I need to process these medicinal herbs to replenish our supplies in case we are attacked again."

"Fine whatever" He mumbled as he pulled himself out of the latest Inuyasha shaped crater and jumped up into the nearest tree to sulk.

Kagome shook her head in frustration at his antics and went to check on the rest of the group. She filled them all in on the events of the day and checked on Sango's injuries. Once all questions were answered and bandages changed Kagome settled herself off to the side to work on processing her herbs.

As she sat down and started to unpack her bag she noticed that some of the items she had gathered were missing and that she had a few more varieties of flowers than she originally picked. 'Rin must have mixed up some of our stuff in her hurry to chase after Sesshomaru this afternoon. I guess it isn't that big of a deal, there is just enough daylight left to go back out and get what I need. But I sure hope she doesn't handle some of that stuff to much, some people and demons are extremely allergic to those items in their natural state. I would hate for her to break out in a rash or something like that from handling them. Oh man, if something like that happens to her I bet Sesshomaru would kill me.' Kagome got a vision of Sesshomaru storming into the campsite with Red glowing eyes looking for her. The thought was enough to freeze the blood in her veins in fear of the demon Lord. 'I am probably just overreacting. Once she realizes she got my stuff by mistake and there are no pretty flowers on them she will probably just toss them, so no big deal. However, I have to remember to be more careful with them next time and maybe I should try to give Rin some basic training so she can identify the potentially dangerous ones in the future.'

Realizing that if she wanted to go and get the items she needed she had better go right away or it would be too dark out to find them. She stood and grabbed her bag before putting it on her shoulders. This caught the attention of the rest of the group.

"Yo Kagome, what's the big idea. Are you really going back out there again? I thought you already got everything you needed." Inuyasha said as he jumped down from the tree he had been in since their return.

"Oh I did but it seems like Rin and I had a bit of a mixup when gathering our stuff to leave. It appears I got some of her flowers and she got some of my herbs. So I need to go grap just a few more things real quick before it get's dark, it shouldn't take me long." Kagome finished grabbing her things then reached for the bundle of flowers. "Here Sango. These are for you. I saw them and thought you may enjoy them. Nothing helps you feel better while recovering than some beautiful flowers."

Sango thanked her friend and gave her a tight hug in appreciation. Miroku was starting to offer to accompany Kagome on her search when Inuyasha cut him off and said, in no uncertain terms, that he was going to go with her in case something happened like earlier today with Kagura and Maru.

The duo set off to gather the needed ingredients. Kagome worked quickly to get what they needed and before long they were back at camp with the others. She knew it was only a matter of time before Kagura and Maru came back and she wanted to be prepared in case something happened. So, she decided to set aside some antidotes for common snake venom, since it seemed Maru loved to attack with all kinds of snakes. She also prepared some general medications for cuts and other ailments. Before long she had prepared a wide variety of items. Satisfied with her progress, Kagome decided to settle down for the night and get some much needed rest since they would be continuing with their journey in the morning.

~~~000~~~

At daybreak Sesshomaru was up and ready to be on his way. He walked over to where Jaken was sleeping and gave him a swift kick while saying it was time to depart and he should get up to start breaking camp. Jaken jumped instantly out of bed to do as he was told, while he absently scratched his neck and forehead. Sesshomaru stared down at the small demon and cocked his head to the side as he asked Jaken why his forehead and neck both appeared to be red and swollen. Jake let out a squeal as he race to the stream to check out his reflection. To his horror he was indeed all red and swollen and instantly knew it had to be the flowers young Rin had placed on him last night. He proceeded to rip them off and realized that this time Rin had incorporated some herbs into her arrangements that he was indeed allergic to. He quickly threw away the damn things and washed his skin.

Sesshomaru watched in amusement as Jaken had raced off only to come back a short while later grumbling under his breath about how Rin and her blasted flowers that would be the death of him. Shaking his head at his pathetic servant Sesshomaru continued to get ready to leave.

Jaken walked over to where Rin was sleeping and yelled for her to wake up and start to get ready to leave. He started to walk towards A-Un to get him ready to leave next expecting her to get up but when she didn't stir Jaken yelled over again to see what was taking her so long. Sesshomaru noticed the exchange from his spot and raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior of Rin. Never before had she ignored an order that came from him, even if it was delivered through Jaken.

"Rin, I said it was time to get up so we can be on our way. What is taking you so long to get moving?" As Jaken came back over to her side he leaned over her noticing she was still soundly asleep. Shaking his head in annoyance, he reached down to shake her slightly and almost immediately pulled his hand back and jumped away in alarm.

Sesshomaru appeared by their side at once. "What is wrong, Jaken?" He questioned while looking down at his small ward.

"My..My Lord. Rin is burning up with fever and I can't get her to awaken."

"Jaken, stay with Rin and watch over her. I will be back shortly." And with that Sesshomaru took to the sky on his demonic cloud.