EDIT There has been an edit to this chapter's content since it was first posted, mainly at the very end during the short battle sequence. For the sake of new readers, I'll explain it at the end of the chapter.


He found he couldn't move when he looked around, finding himself in a lightless room. There was nothing there really, just him and the darkness. He was lying on the ground, his head propped up on nothing, and his body was sore for some reason. He remembered his fight with Naraku over the time he lay there in silence, becoming somewhat disgusted with his wounds. Never before had he fallen like this, and at the hand of Naraku no doubt. The last time he had remembered hurting like this was when his damned half-breed brother had hit him with Tetsusaiga.

But even as he lay there in his pain, he could still sense the aura of the miko next to him. And since she was nowhere to be seen, he came to the conclusion that he must be asleep. Sleep didn't come to him easily though, he had never allowed it to. Come to think of it, he rarely needed to sleep. The last time he had slept couldn't have been a month ago, at the most two months. That was how he had grown up, taught to stay up even when he felt he was about to fall, taught never to lower his guard.

With his stubborn nature, he told himself to awake, not wanting Naraku to reappear while he was down. But he felt Kagome's aura restrain him in a way, her subconscious commanding that he was to rest and not awake. So, surprisingly, he obeyed, and tried to concentrate on healing his own wounds.

Yet, not moments later, did a familiar laugh reach his ears.

"Finally fallen, have we, Sesshomaru?" called the voice from the darkness, the red clad hanyo appearing next to him, "Never thought I would see this day."

But when Sesshomaru opened his mouth to retort, he couldn't find his voice. Was he really that weakened…?

"Ha!" InuYasha said with a mocking smile, sitting next to the ticked off taiyokai, "Can't even speak, can we?"

Sesshomaru simply ignored his hanyo brother, half wondering why the man had appeared in his dream, assuming that this was a dream, of course.

"So has Naraku simply gotten so strong that he could take you down, Sesshomaru?" asked InuYasha with a curious tone, a serious look that belonged on Miroku now crossing his face, "That can't be good. And you even hacked off an arm from my carcass to get Tetsusaiga."

There the two remained in silence for the next couple moments, Sesshomaru wanting to jump up and punch his brother in the face as the hanyo stared down at him in this helpless state.

"You had better take care of her, Sesshomaru." InuYasha said, breaking the silence, gazing away from his brother, "Or you'll have hell to deal with. You've taken her under your care now, and if you turn your back on her, Tetsusaiga just might through a fit… Considering that I still can control the sword."

Inwardly, Sesshomaru wasn't very thrilled with his baby brother's words. How dare the hanyo even suspect that he, Sesshomaru, would go back on his word. Whether or not this miko was mortal, she was carrying a child, and he had promised her his protection from anyone or anything that would wish to attack her. He noticed the look his brother was beginning to give him nearly immediately, noting that InuYasha would never look at him like that when he could attack him.

"She's happy with you right now, Sesshomaru, as much as I hate to say it. Try to keep it that way." Then his brother faded into black, leaving Sesshomaru to his thoughts.

---

Kagome sat up against the tree trunk with Sesshomaru's head in her lap, looking down at the taiyokai with worry. His body had gotten quiet hot to the touch, though she doubted that temperature wasn't one to cause a demon to have a fever. It was sundown now, and she looked up at the appearing stars.

The damage Naraku had done to Sesshomaru was surprising as well as deadly, but he seemed to be healing fairly quickly. Yet she did notice that he had seemingly lost all control of his body, his stillness indicating that he couldn't move. But that wasn't the same for his little companion, Rin. She had been running around the camp most of the night, checking up on both Koga and Sesshomaru at least every fifteen minutes. And when she wasn't asking how they were doing, she was delivering bandages to Sango and helping out with the wolf yokai's wounds since Sango had only one good arm at the time.

And even though Sango's arm was nowhere near being fully healed, she had begun to move the arm around with less pain, stretching her muscles carefully every once in a while. But, besides her arm, Koga wasn't fairing as well as they would like him to. His wounds just wouldn't close completely, and even though the blood loss wasn't as bad, it was threatening his health in more ways than one. Kagome was thinking about having to resort to stitching the wound up, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that. The only needle and string she could get here probably weren't the most sanitary of tools, and though he probably had immunity to most diseases as Sesshomaru did, she didn't want to take any chances.

But, no matter what the days brought her, she didn't move from that spot once. The last thing she wanted to do was move the unconscious yokai, in fear of reopening his deep wounds, and she definitely didn't want to disturb him if his body was trying to heal itself. So, for three days she would sit there with the taiyokai's head in her lap, camped out next to her old love's grave. And there she tried to decide what she would do when the baby came, since she knew she wouldn't have much time to think about it otherwise. She tried to figure out how she would send news to her family and how and where she would raise her child.

But something disturbing came creeping to her mind on the third day, while the moon was disappearing with the sun's light. She knew she wanted to keep this baby, but in all technicalities, she was underage in her time. If her mother strongly thought that the baby wasn't going to be a good thing, she wouldn't have much choice in a lot of things. For all she knew, he mother could want her to have an abortion. And what if an abortion was the right thing to do…? It had saved so many people's lives from going down the gutter.

But did she want to end an innocent person's life to make hers better?

But luckily for her, something distracted her fro the dark thoughts. There he was, the unconscious hell's angel, awakening in her lap.

And to her relief, as he awoke, he sat up. Thank kami he could move. But, to her horror, as he sat up, she could see that his white bandages on his bare chest were turning red.

"Sesshomaru—" she said in a frantic voice, but he cut her off.

"Silence miko, I will be fine." He said in his velvet voice, pushing the hair that feel down his chest to his back.

That was when he turned around, taking his folded shirt that lay beside the miko in silence, shrugging the top back on. She was amazed by how unphased he seemed, but then again, he had slept for three days straight.

And while she looked at him with her brown eyes, he let his own eyes look around the small camp. The demon slayer was sitting next to a now, miraculously, fully recovered Koga, who in turn was looking at Sesshomaru with a calm look. Next he spotted Rin, whom was seated directly across from him, apparently getting on Jaken's nerves. Nothing seemed too amiss, besides the fact that he had a feeling he had not been out only an hour or two.

"If you're wondering, you've been out for three days, Sesshomaru-sama." Kagome said, answering his unspoken question.

"Then we should leave here," he stated, getting up to his feet, "It is not likely that Naraku will leave us alone much longer."

Kagome stood up at his words, watching as the yokai began to walk out of camp. Rin was running after him, as was Jaken, but she found that she could quiet get her legs to work. She felt sick to the stomach, the sensation of needing to barf registering in the back of her mind. And before she could even gag, she was blowing chunks as she sat on her knees, her baby obviously not agreeing with her for some reason. Before she knew it, Koga was at her side, asking her if she was alright.

Letting her mind get the feeling of disgust out of her system before she stood, she found that Sesshomaru and the others had stopped walking, the great taiyokai waiting patiently for her to catch up.

Now a new feeling had entered her mind, as another left. She knew that in the back of her mind, there had always been the… hope that maybe she wasn't pregnant. It wasn't that she didn't want the baby, she just wasn't sure if she was able to take care of it. But, the fact that she had thrown up for no apparent reason made it all real to her. There it was, a baby growing in her stomach, and the most feared yokai to be known taking her in his care.

So, not wanting to keep anyone up, Kagome started to walk over to the group, not wanting to run and accidentally barf again. But before she knew it, she was caught up in someone's arms and taken over to Sesshomaru.

"We're going with you," Koga stated, Sango behind him, "with Naraku after us, the best we can do is stick together."

And surprisingly, as Kagome was put down, Sesshomaru just nodded and began to walk again without a word, Rin running up to the miko's side. And as the little girl talked 99 miles an hour, making sure her friend was okay, Kagome lost herself in thought once again. What was with Sesshomaru lately? He was much more tolerant of mortals than he usually was, and he would have just brushed Koga and Sango off before.

Yet, was his injuries the answer of her questions? Was he really okay as he said? Not even InuYasha would be able to move after injuries like that. But then again, Sesshomaru had already shown her how much more power he held over his half-brother. How could she be sure though? The moment he had sat up, his wounds had begun bleeding again. Then her eye caught something at his side. It was Tenseiga, pulsing. The sword of healing, that had to be it. Before, when he had been hit with the Wind Scar, the Tenseiga had saved him from death. There was no other answer.

But there was one more question in her mind.

Why did she care this much?

She knew that caring was in her nature, but she was caring about him the way she had cared for InuYasha, if not a little less. It was kind of bothering her a tiny bit, her mind lingering on the fact subconsciously. Was it just because he was protecting her, or was it for other reasons she wasn't sure of? When InuYasha had been alive, she had feared Sesshomaru with all of her heart, for both the reasons of his power and for the potential threat of actually killing InuYasha. But now, in less than the span of a month, all of those feelings had changed.

And Sesshomaru was in a similar dilemma himself. He too was wondering why he was so protective of this girl, and why she had cared for him for those last three days. But more or less, he was pondering the words his hanyo brother had told him.

"…She's happy with you right now, Sesshomaru…"

What did that mean? Was she happy that she wasn't dead, or was she happy that she was actually with him? She couldn't be happy that she wasn't dead, because, for a long while after she had escaped death, he had noted that she had seemingly wanted to die. She had wanted to be with InuYasha. But now, it seemed that she no longer thought of death that way. Was it because of his presence, or had she simply figured out that dying would accomplish nothing. Well, whether it was that or something else, he was slightly afraid she had started getting feelings for him.

He was afraid because he had seen what love would make humans do. Sara had fallen in love with him and sold her soul to demons, eventually leading her to her death. It was true that Kagome had more sense than that, but that didn't mean she wouldn't fall a victim to something else. And plus, Sesshomaru was incapable to love someone. That's what he had been told by his father and mother on occasion, and Sesshomaru knew it may as well be true. He didn't want to love and he didn't think he ever could love. Love was dangerous in his life anyway. If he did indeed fall in love with someone on day, she would constantly be in danger. Being Lord of the Western Lands meant he had allies, but it also meant he had enemies. Not that anyone had been smart enough to ever try to attack him, with the exception of Naraku, but he couldn't guarantee that forever.

He was incapable of loving and he wanted it to stay that way.


Naraku sat there, looking out the window in frustration. Kanna had just recently left him with the knowledge that Sesshomaru and Koga were absolutely fine, and that wasn't making him to happy. The damn miko had taken care of Sesshomaru until he had healed, with the help of Tenseiga, of course, and now the taiyokai was back to full power. And even though Koga didn't pose too much of a threat, having him alive wasn't making Naraku any happier.

It didn't matter that Sesshomaru had left him with fatal wounds from InuYasha's damn sword since he had already regenerated, but the mere fact that Sesshomaru could now use Tetsusaiga was pissing him off. Sesshomaru had much more knowledge of Tetsusaiga and its powers, which meant there would be many more things Naraku didn't know. The thought was unnerving him in a way, leaving him with a small sense of insecurity. If he didn't know what he was fighting against, he was screwed.

But that wouldn't stop him. He would continue to search for the miko that had evaded him, and he would kill her. The same went for the demon slayer he had recently discovered alive; she would die at his hand as well.

Then he let out a laugh. It didn't matter if Kagome was alive or not, she was probably an absolute wreck since he had killed InuYasha. She had loved him, and he knew for a fact that humans didn't let go of love very fast. He still felt the feelings Onigumo had for Kikyo, even though he hated the dead miko with his whole heart, and by that he knew that Kagome wasn't about to let go of InuYasha's memories and he knew that she would always hate him until she killed him. Considering that she could kill him, of course.


They didn't stop walking for the next two days. Kagome didn't mind, for over the weeks of staying with him she had gotten used to him non-stop walking habits. But, then again, Ah and Un had joined up with them on the first day of walking, appearing virtually out of nowhere. Rin had spent most of her time riding the two headed demon, sleeping on its back when she had to. But Kagome had only gotten upon its back once, when Sesshomaru had ordered her to get some sleep. Sango, on the other hand, had needed to sleep by early the second morning, Koga taking her up on his back. Kagome noted that InuYasha was a saint compared to how much Sesshomaru had them walk. Yet, she didn't complain, just continued to walk, ignoring the sore feet that were yelling at her.

And from there no one spoke for the most, besides the quiet, short conversations she held with Sango and Koga. No demons had come after them either, surprisingly, so the days had been both quiet and boring. So, when they finally stopped to rest, it only got more boring. But at least they had stopped next to a lake, so Kagome and Sango had time to bathe.

"Kagome?" Sango asked as she waded in the cold water, "Are you okay?"

Kagome only responded with a questioning look as she waded in the water as well, helping Rin wash her hair.

"What I mean is have you been okay traveling with Sesshomaru?" Sango said, responding to Kagome's look.

"Oh," Kagome said, looking away from Rin's hair for a moment, "I've been fine traveling with him, Sango… Why do you ask?"

"Well, he was our enemy at one time, Kagome."

"… I know that. But things have changed ever since Naraku killed them, Sango," Kagome said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "You do know that you were the only one should have survived, right?"

It was then Sango's turn to reply with a confused look.

"When Naraku came after us the first time, Sango, I died… or I was very close to dying. But from what I understand, Rin found my body and she didn't want me to die," Kagome said, forgetting Rin's hair completely, "So, Sesshomaru brought me back to life using Tenseiga… I'm not sure why he did it though. He could have just as easily ignored Rin and walked away, allowing me to die. But he didn't. He wanted me to live for some reason, and I can't figure out why. But whatever reason that is, it is why I'm here today."

And that was when Sango kind of spaced out, lost in thought while Kagome returned to the little girl's hair.

"I guess… I guess you're right, Kagome. Things have changed… many things have changed."

---

When Kagome and the others returned to the small campsite, they found Koga there, alone. A fire was in the middle of the small area, some sort of boar roasting on it.

"I don't know if you'll like it," Koga said, his eyes reflecting the dancing flames, "But there wasn't much to hunt out here. Sesshomaru ran off to do his own hunting."

"Its fine, Koga." Kagome said with a smile, sitting down across the fire, "Thank you."

Sango agreed as well, sitting down next to the wolf yokai, muttering her thanks. She was kind of disturbed now, knowing exactly what Sesshomaru was out hunting. When she had been taught about yokai's and their ways in her youth, they would have classified Sesshomaru as an upper, strong, dangerous yokai, while Koga would be one of the stronger, lesser yokai. But not only was Sesshomaru an upper yokai, he was a yokai lord, which meant she had no doubt of what he was out hunting right now.

Yokai of his kind ate humans.

That's why she had been so worried about Kagome traveling with him. But she had to remember, yokai of his kind not only held an unimaginable amount of self control, they also held the ability to go without the need to eat for months on end. And plus, Rin was still here, wasn't she?

But what really bothered her was that she was supposed to be the one protecting the humans he hunted. Yet, she knew she couldn't stop him. He needed to eat eventually, just as everyone did. And if she stopped him, she'd have to try and slay him, which would lead her to death. She was no match for him, even when he was at his weakest. She had to live with it. She had to hold back the urge to go run after him.

Soon he was back though, not a drop of blood on him, after everyone had finished eating. He did notice the look Sango gave him, but it wasn't like he hadn't expected it. She was a demon slayer after all; it was her duty to stop him from doing such things. It was actually her duty to kill both him and Koga, but he knew that wasn't going to happen.

And as Kagome gave him a small smile, he sat down up against a tree, not particularly close to anybody, and rested his arm on a propped up knee. There he stared into the fire, watching the dancing flames with half a mind. When would Naraku attack them next? Or would the spider yokai just lie low until they found him themselves? But what ever it may be, Sesshomaru would be prepared this time, and he would come out victorious.

But once Naraku had been defeated, what would happen? Would he simply continue with life as he had been before all of this? No… he wouldn't. Before, when Naraku had not been a name to his knowing, he had spent most of his life searching for Tetsusaiga, as well as searching for InuYasha so he could kill him. But now he could do neither of those things. He had Tetsusaiga, and InuYasha was dead. The only thing left was to return to his lands and watch over them. Rin and Jaken would come with no doubt, but what of Kagome? Would he simply just return her home, to her family? Or would he continue to watch over her until the baby was born, and then be there for the remainder of that child's life?

But, did he really have a choice once Naraku was dead? From what he had previously known, Kagome had only traveled with the hanyo for the sake of finding the sacred jewel shards and destroying Naraku. What had she planned to do after that? He had already guaranteed her safety until the baby was born, meaning she would stay with him until that day, but what would she do after? What would she want to do after?

"Kagome-chan?" Rin questioned as she sat next to the miko, breaking his train of thought, "Will you be staying with Sesshomaru-sama and Rin forever?"

And there it was. Of course Rin would be the one to ask such things, for when she spoke, she usually did things like this. She had always asked about the things that were on his mind at the time, and he didn't know how she did it. He never told her anything, so how could she figure it out?

And, across from him, he heard Kagome giggle softly, "I'll stay with you as long as I must, Rin. And if you want me to stay longer, and Sesshomaru-sama will allow it, I'll stick around for as long as you wish."

Sesshomaru let out a mental sigh, closing his eyes. How in the world did Rin do such things?

---

The next day they were up again, walking down a meadow path, no one speaking much. The scent of Naraku was heavy again, those once distant clouds reappearing over their heads, so everyone's nerves were tense. Kagome had found a bow and arrow, so it wasn't like she was defenseless, but she still felt nervous, noting that she needed to be much more careful not to get injured. Every blow she took, the baby took as well.

And for a long time nothing happened, even though both Sesshomaru and Koga had noticed a nearby presence, so they continued walking uninterrupted. But everyone there knew that this would not last long, especially once Kagome's miko's senses were filled with Naraku's aura, and Sango could tell that the demon was close. So, eventually, the whole caravan of both yokai and human came to stop, Rin and Jaken running off to safety. Everyone there knew that battle was inevitable now, so they prepared themselves.

The minutes passed by with a lingering, nervous, silence, everyone awaiting something that they knew nothing about. So, when a figure began to appear on the opposite side of the meadow, everyone tensed. And when the figure became easier to distinguish, they all burned the image of the woman into their heads.

She was a tall woman, not much shorter than Sesshomaru, with black, silky hair that rested in a high ponytail up upon her head. She wore a kimono that was made of a black material, a blood red, thorn encased, rose planted on her right shoulder. The thorns ran down her right sleeve, twisting and turning down the fabric. The belt of her kimono was too blood red, tied in the back, two swords held in place at her waist by it. Her eyes were closed, a small smirk planted upon her lips. Apparently she was finding this all very amusing, the way they all waited in a fear for her. Of course, there was no fear radiating from the inu yokai, but she had seemed to expect that.

"So anxious for my arrival, are we?" she called across the meadow in a smooth voice, stopping in her tracks with a wider smirk, "…Are you afraid of me, because your scents are telling me you are."

And as she stood there, with that smirk across her face, she wasted no time in drawing her swords. They were just as normal as any other sword, but both Sesshomaru and Koga could feel the yokai power radiating from them, which made them a little uneasy. Kagura had been annoying enough with the damn wind, so what did this girl possess?

"And your scent is telling me something very interesting, miko…" she said with a soft, curious tone.

But the moment those words escaped her mouth, Sesshomaru was neck to neck with her, Tetsusaiga drawn. He knew exactly what she had smelt, and he wasn't going to let her live with it. If Naraku knew that Kagome was pregnant, everything would become more than dangerous for the miko. And, if she had picked up that fine of a detail in Kagome's scent from that far away, she had just as good of a nose as he did, which wasn't good in many ways.

"You die here, girl." He said with a deadly tone, throwing the girl back with a burst of strength.

From there the battle raged, the newcomer fighting with a skill that matched Sesshomaru's, both of them finding that they were so equally matched that they couldn't get a scratch on each other. And, in noting this, Sesshomaru wouldn't allow anyone else into the fight, knowing that they'd be killed in an instant. But, unfortunately, as the battle raged on, Sesshomaru soon noticed that she had much more stamina than he. He wasn't tired or anything, but after a time, she had a bit more energy than he did. He wasn't aware of how long they had fought after a good thirty minutes, but he wasn't going to allow her to live.

And, at about that time, she was getting ticked off. This battle was keeping her on her toes, no doubt, but it was also boring her. So, with a jump backwards away from the demon lord, she raised both her swords, crossing them over each other above her head in an X formation, the blades glowing with a deadly black light. She smiled as she let the blades fall, a massive amount of force behind them as a red light shot through the air like an arrow, millions of razor sharp energy blast shooting the group's way. All of them were a blood red color, deadly to the touch, and Sesshomaru knew he couldn't stop them at the speed they were traveling. So the yokai prepared himself, but stopped the moment he noticed that they all weren't going to hit him. And with the little time he had left, he used his talons to reopen the wound in his stomach, blood spilling everywhere and staining his kimono.

Then, as the first of the attack came, Tetsusaiga pulsed, a blue barrier appearing in front of him, the width of it protecting the group behind him as well. That was the only way to activate this power, to be injured and unable to fight. Tetsusaiga protected it's wielder from a deadly attack, just as Tenseiga did, but with this sword it didn't happen much. And in truth, he hadn't even been sure if it would work, since Tetsusaiga had not technically accepted him as its owner. But it had, and that was all he needed.

The attack was bouncing back off the barrier, ricocheting in every way, no longer posing a threat. That was when Sesshomaru took his chance, while his opponent was recovering lost energy from using her attack, and he launched Wind Scar. But, by then, she was gone. Disappearing from the battle ground and evading the attack. But she wasn't gone from here. Sesshomaru had caught her form moving at an intense speed, his eyes only catching a flicker of movement.

Then he heard a soft laugh, turning his body towards his opponent, whom was behind him. She was there, next to Kagome, fighting her. Kagome was somehow generating an enormous amount of miko energy in her hands to defend herself, the pink energy taking a form that could be a sword of some sort.. This was dangerous now, for Kagome didn't know how to control her miko power, and it was going every which way, Kagome probably not even knowing how she had created it. She could easily hurt him if he got to close to the energy, unintentionally purifying him, and she wouldn't even know what had happened.

But he ignored that, charging in at the yokai, readying his talons. And, somehow, he got her, his hand ripping through her stomach and going through the other side of her body, Tetsusaiga limp in his other hand. For a moment, she stood there, stunned, but her weapons soon fell limp in her hands, her body weight held up by his arm. Then she looked up at him, seemingly stunned and unable to move, but then she smiled, and disappeared from the scene, Sesshomaru only left with her blood on his hands.

And that was when he knew that she hadn't left empty handed, for know Naraku knew of Kagome's pregnancy.


A.N. (READ PLEASE) Okay, two things. First, I have a problem I'd like to admit... I have accidentally named one of the characters wrong. I'm surprised no one told me... o.O You know Koga's two buddy, Ginta and Hakku? Well, Hakku isn't the guys real name. In all my stupidness, I didn't bother to check if I got the name right when I started the story. His real name is Hakaku... and for extra info, he's the one with the mohawk. Even though he's probably never showing up in the story again, I thought I might as well tell you, and if he does show up in the story again, I can't guarantee that I'll correct it because I don't want to confuse anybody. So, if you were wondering, in my Kagome and Koga story "Compromise," it will be changed... (sigh) first I delete a chapter and then I misname a character.

And second, I'd like to know if you guys want Koga and Sango to get together. If you do, please put it in your reveiw!

So, thank you for putting up with me throught my stupidness, and please continue reading. REVEIW PLEASE!


Edited material This wasn't a very big edit, but in the fight scene with our new character, she went after Kagome, didn't she? Here's the original paragraph.

Then he heard a soft laugh, turning his body towards his opponent, whom was behind him. She was there, behind Kagome, fighting her. Kagome had used Tetsusaiga to defend herself, trying to stop the two swords that were grinding against Tetsusaiga. This was dangerous now, for Kagome didn't know how to control her miko power, and it was going every which way, Kagome not even knowing that she was using it. She could easily hurt him by accidentally purifying him, and she had no idea that she could.

Well, how in the world did Kagome get a hold of Tetsusaiga if Sesshomaru had it? Originally, when our newcomer attacked with the red "arrows," I was going to have Sesshomaru toss the sword to Kagome, so it would protect her, but I went back and edited that out before it was posted, and I missed this. So, I just decided I would fix it, to make sure I wouldn't cause unintentional (spelling?) confusion. Thanks for putting up with me... again.