This one is a bit longer than the rest. I hope I get Sesshomaru in character.

Theme 10: Breath again

Sesshomaru sat beneath the Goshinkinbo tree, his back against the trunk, his elbow propped up on a raised knee.

As soon as he told the girl his story, she had stood suddenly and announced she was 'going home' since then there had been nothing of her and the group refused to move, waiting for the Miko to return. It seemed that in the past, they would wait for her before doing anything. If Sesshomaru were in his usual body, he would have forced them to submit or continued alone, but like this he was unable to do either.

And also, the Tetsaiga refused to transform for him.

He tested it upon a weaker Youkai but the blade only hummed, refusing his wishes. Why?

The last time he had it in his possession, he suspected it was the shard of the Shikon jewel that had allowed him to force its transformation, but without such assistance he would have to learn its secrets the hard way. He unsheathed the blade of his father and held it to the sun.

"Inuyasha!" Sesshomaru looked up and shielded his eyes from the sun "Will look at that, you're not in the tree anymore?".

It was the girl "Miko?" he said.

She looked irritated "My name is Kagome. Look even if your memory is a little hazy, I already went through this with you once when you thought I was Kikyo, I'm not gonna do it again. My. Name. Is. Kagome!"

"Miko, now that you have returned, rally the others in our quest for the jewel."

A red mark appeared on the priestess's head and she uttered two words "Sit boy!"

Suddenly, Sesshomaru felt his neck being thrust to the ground. Complete shock was not something he was accustomed to.

The girl knelt down "Now that we've reacquainted you with 'sit…"

He was once again thrust to the ground.

"Ops" she said "Sorry, didn't mean for that to happen the second time"

A subjugation spell! How could the Hanyou have fallen so low as to allow himself to submit for a human! And now, within his body, Sesshomaru was also forced to the same fate.

The girl pulled him by his arm so his face was free once again to breath.

"Inuyasha, I don't know what happened to make you so different, but I swear, I'm gonna make you remember everything. You're gonna be the old Inuyasha gain before you know it."

Sesshomaru growled "Don't bother Human, I do not need any of your assistance"

She frowned "Sit boy"

Sesshomaru found himself reacquainted with the ground wish was becoming a nice little crater "And another thing, will you quit it with the holier-than-thou script, it's really annoying.

Sesshomaru stared coldly at her. When he regained his body, she was the first to die. Painfully and slowly.

X-X-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-XX

Kagome believed they were making excellent progress. As they travelled across the countryside of Feudal Japan and a slightly slower pace than they were used to, Kagome rode on Kilala's back instead as Inuyasha hadn't offered to carry her.

The thought made her sad, but Kagome forced herself to brighten up. She'd made her decision, she was going to continue loving Inuyasha, she was going to remind him of the person he used to be.

Just having a reason to come back was like giving Kagome a reason to breathe again as she rode beside him and told him stories of their travels, like of Kouga and Yura of the hair. She left out some of their more intimate stories due to present company.

Kagome couldn't believe there was actually a day where she missed Inuyasha barking at them to go faster, or his bratty nagging.

But as he wasn't telling her to die or leave, she tried to convince herself a part of him was listening.

X-X-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-XX

Sesshomaru completely drowned out the sound of the Miko's voice. At least he other two were tolerable, the slayer and the monk only occasionally tried to engage him in conversation, the fox could be likened to a bee and was easy to ignore, but the girl, her voice could only be compared to one thing and that was Jaken. How he longed to throw a rock and shut her up. But Aya assured him he couldn't as the force may kill her, humans were so fragile.

As they travelled, suddenly there was a sound before them.

A heard of Youkai boars were stampeding at them, salivating and disgusting, their leader's eyes glowed as it hissed "Shards".

The rest of them seemed to be just following their leader.

"Kagome!" Miroku cried "does he have any of the jewel?"

She peered "No, I think he just wants ours."

"Then we take him out and leave the rest" Sango said, readying her Hiraikotsu.

So the girl could see the shards? Her worth suddenly increased in his eyes, she would be most useful in his desire to complete the jewel.

The Boars surrounded them, as the group readied themselves to attack, Sesshomaru placed a hand on the Tetsaiga.

Alas, it would not transform. He growled. What was he not doing? Why would it change for the Hanyou and not him?

As they fought the boar, Sesshomaru grew tired. The woman only needed to unleash one of her sacred arrows to destroy them all. Why did she not?

Sesshomaru readied his claws. They weren't poison, but he was accustomed to some on Inuyasha's attacks from their many fights.

"Iron reaper, Soul Stealer" he said and leaped forward, slicing the Youkai to bits. In moments they were dead. At one point, the slayer got in the way, but Sesshomaru only barrelled through her.

As he stood amongst the carnage, he flicked his claws free of the blood. He refused to be barbaric and filthy as Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha SIT BOY!" the infernal girl shouted and the beads plunged him to the ground.

The girl stood, cradling the injured Slayer "What's your problem, you could have seriously injured Sango!"

Sesshomaru stood and looked at them coolly "The enemy is dead, are they not?"

"Sango is not your enemy, and why did you have to kill all of them, they wanted to surrender" she screeched.

He frowned "Surrender is for the weak" he said "And so is the slayer, for not staying out of the way"

She paused; her face was riddled with an expression of hurt. Suddenly that feeling again, it grinded in his heart like a spine, Sesshomaru choked, what was this…

"No, he's right" Sango stood "If I get hurt at something like that, I can't hope to confront Naraku" she said.

Kagome looked conflicted, but she relented.

Sesshomaru turned, unwilling to look upon her face again; he clutched the folds of his fire rat Haori.

"Inuyasha" Kagome murmured, watching his back 'Why does your back look so cold, so lonely?'

You know the drill, Please review; more than four would be nice. You know what else would be nice, If all the people who favourite and follow this story could drop me a line and review!