Kagome was bouncing off the walls with excitement, both Miroku and Sang noted in amusement as they watched her scurry from one end of the room to look out of the hut's window to the other to do the same exact same thing. The hayou had been doing this for hours now, ever since she had awakened and bathed and gotten dressed in a nice white and pink kimono with little green and gold embroidered butterflies and beautifully detailed purple and white magnolia flowers in full bloom.

Her long blue black hair was up in an intricate knot, that Sango had helped her with and was held in place by a hand carved white shell floral hair comb. All in all, their young friend looked absolutely stunning.

Both Miroku and Sango had been teasing the girl off and on all morning about wanting to look pretty for her 'handsome uncle' which earned them no shortage of adorable pink blushes, stammered denials and in some cases- even outright glares.

Why just an hour ago she had even hissed at Sango like a cat when she had had the audacity to tell Kagome that if she wasn't going to be a good girl for her uncle then maybe she could tempt him into mating with her. She was simply teasing, knowing that even if she could tempt the regal inu that he was far above her in station and would never agree to mating her.

Naturally, Kagome didn't feel this was an welcome thought. But then neither had Miroku whom had slowly turned his head to look at his betrothed oddly before decided that perhaps he should drag her off to re stake his claim on his beloved demon slayer before the Daiyoukai could get there and whisk her away from his side or something.

Kagome didn't know what they were doing. She only knew that kissing was involved and that they came back into the main room in the front of the hut a little while later.

Their scents were a tad bit blended together though.

She knew this because the smell of them combined made her wrinkle her little nose and sneeze a few times.

She wasn't sure how long they teased her every time she looked out of one of the windows, but hours passed and finally just when Kagome was beginning to wonder if her uncle was even coming, she made out a carriage coming towards her home in the distance.

"Sango? Miroku? There's a carriage heading our way." She said as if she were uncertain about whether she should hide or not. Her tone must have belied her thoughts, because one moment her friends were sitting together on the floor and the next they were both up on their feet.

Miroku grabbing his staff with the gold tip and rings on it, and Sango grabbed her huge weapon and walked over to Kagome and whispered in one of her little black puppy ears to go hide until they let her know everything was okay. The two had been attacked enough by the locals to know that having a carriage head their way wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Especially for Kagome.

Her half demon blood got her in more than her fair share of scrapes over the years. Especially with humans in the local villages and such.

The two stood side by side as the carriage seemed to come to a stop before them and one of the doors was opened allowing them a view of the carriages occupant.

Sesshomaru took in the two human companions of his young niece, standing at the ready to do battle and raised a pale eyebrow at them as he stepped out of the cramped space that he had just spent the past few hours trapped in as the two tried to cover their blunder with stuttered greetings and explanations.

Needless to say, he was somewhat impressed by them for at least making an attempt to protect the pup that he would be claiming. If nothing else, he felt the humans were certainly either very brave, or very foolish.

He leaned more towards excusable stupidity coupled with bravery. It just seemed to fit the two more.

"Where is the pup?" He finally asked after a moment or so. The knot that had been in his stomach earlier, was now becoming painful. Making him feel more than somewhat nauseous as he listened to the careful replies of the two humans.

"Kagome is hiding inside for the moment. We thought it was best to have her where she couldn't be seen, just in case."

Nodding his head in approval, he walked past them as he said, "Call her. I have payment for her work. And I also need to speak to each of you about...changes to my plans."

"Changes?" Miroku asked curiously. Causing Sesshomaru to growl threateningly.

"This Sesshomaru regrets to inform you that circumstances of my taking in the pup have changed. Call her so that I may speak in depth and prepare her for what is to happen and get your thoughts as well."

"Yes!" Sango said as she hurried past the inu lord, damn near knocking him out of her way as she ran to do as he bid. One would naturally expect the inu to react badly to this fact, but for some reason- he seemed far more disturbed by whatever it was that he felt that he needed to speak to them about.

The hut was quiet for several moments as Sesshomaru and Miroku entered and quietly made their way over to sit down at the table when both males heard a joyful, "Uncle Sesshomaru!" mere moments before the inu felt small arms wrap around his waist and let out a low rumbling purr-like sound as he hugged the pup back.

"Hello pup," He said gently as he carefully pried her arms from around him and then dropped down to one knee in front of her and smiled faintly even as he said, "We need to speak of some things before I can take you with me." He didn't bother mentioning the fact that 'if' he was still to take her with him, he couldn't simply let her walk into the palace so woefully unprepared.

Doing so would not only be cruel but would ensure her demise.

Both of which were unacceptable to him.

Kagome blinked at her uncle and then slowly nodded her head and sat down next to him since he hadn't exactly let go of her small hands just yet. "Okay. What is it that you wanted to speak about?"

"To begin, this one must first apologize to you for this and the potential harm it may inflict upon you, little one. It was never my intention to degrade you in such a way...but, do you know what a concubine is?" He asked, his gold eyes locking on her pretty little face and staying there as he tried to gauge her reaction.

Kagome blinked at him again yet couldn't seem to wrap her mind around what he was trying to say. However she finally managed to answer him with a softly spoken no. Causing the inu to give her a pained look as he gently tugged on her hands until he had her sitting in his lap before he launched into great and vivid detail as to what a concubine is and why it was relevant to her.