Rated M related, sort of.
-Sam

Sakura began to strip of her weapons, armor and clothing. She tied her hair up in a messy ponytail, and made her way over to the springs, to get in. Shortly after Sakura got into the springs, Sesshomaru appeared from the shadow of the trees. Sakura did not see him, nor did she sense him, for he masked his sent, and she had her eyes close, relaxing. He hid closely, behind a tree, so she could not see him, but he could see her. He watched her every movement in the springs, as she bathed herself.

'This woman intrigues me. I do not know this feeling that she has over me.' Sesshomaru thought as she started getting out of the springs. His eyes locked on her as she climbed out of the springs, her body dripping from the warm water. The water droplets ran down her every curve, as Sesshomaru drank up her body with his eyes. (A/N HE'S A PERVERT! jk lol) He headed back to the campsite, before Sakura started to dress, so she would not find him missing when she came back. He went back just the way he was, before she had left, and pretended to be resting.

Sakura made her way back to the campsite, and sat by the dying fire, so it could finish drying her wet body. She poked at it with a stick she found nearby, to rekindle it. She glanced over at Sesshomaru, who looked very peaceful. Her eyes roamed over his body, looking at every perfect feature.

"He will never notice me." She said to herself, and sighed silently. She lay down on her back, on the cold hard ground, near the fire to keep warm. She watched the stars twinkle until she finally drifted off into a light sleep.

'Notice her? How could she think I would not notice her? She truly is a strange woman.' Sesshomaru thought. He watched her sleeping, her chest going slowly, up and down, until he too, drifted off into a light sleep.

The group consisting now of: Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kirara. It was dawn, and they were now on their way to the eastern lands. They were told by Kaede's village that there was rumored to be a jewel shard embedded in a scorpion's tail.

"Sango, a word?" Miroku hung back from the rest of the group, and motioned Sango to do the same.

"Yes Miroku?" Sango blinked. Confused as why the monk wanted privacy.

"Have you noticed that Inuyasha and Kagome are acting a bit differently since Inuyasha ran off that one day?" Sango put her finger to her chin and thought for a second.

"You're right. I have noticed a slight change in Inuyasha's behavior towards Kagome. But that could be because he missed her." Miroku shook his head no.

"I think something happened while they were away." He told her. Sango looked at him with a serious look.

"What do you mean, Miroku?" Miroku looked over at Inuyasha and Kagome, before answering. He noticed Inuyasha's ears were twitching in his direction.

"At a later time, dear Sango." Miroku put the side of his hand to his mouth, as a way of silencing himself.

'That monk don't know squat! He's just trying to make something outta nothing!' Inuyasha thought to himself. He glanced over at Kagome, who was holding Shippo in her arms, and staring straight ahead.

'Or maybe he's on to something. I have been acting too nice to Kagome since what happened with Kikyo. But I told her I cared. Do I really? GAH! I don't know! I think I do, maybe?' Inuyasha continued battling inside his head that he didn't notice that they were walking upon a village in ruins.

"Oh wow. What happened here?" Sango asked as they stopped on the outskirts of the village, observing the damage.

"I smell blood. And lots of it." Inuyasha said, when he finally snapped back to reality.

"LOOK! There's a man!" Kagome pointed to a man dragging his body over to the group. He had lost both of his legs, and he was bleeding profusely.

"Ple-easse. H-H-Hel…help me." The man gargling on his own blood. They ran over to the man, so he didn't have to move any more than he already had.

"What happened sir?" Kagome asked, bending down to the man's level, careful not to touch him.

"T-t-the sc…sco..scor cough cough ..pion" And that was his last sentence. The man closed his eyes, and his breathing stopped along with his heartbeat.

"The scorpion did all of this? How terrible." Kagome said, getting up from bending down.

"There's no doubt about it. This scorpion has to die for what it did to this village." Sango said, holding onto the strap that held her Hiraikotsu.

"Kagome, do you sense any jewel shard around here?" Miroku asked, looking around, trying to sense anything.

"Hold on, lemme check." She closed her eyes, and stood silently for a few seconds.

"Yes. It's beyond the village. That way." She pointed to the right, where it looked like to be a cave resting beyond the village.

"Let's go!" Inuyasha yelled, and they all ran off to the cave.

Sakura blinked her eyes open to adjust to the sun shining into them. She sat up slowly, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She looked over to the fire, which was now dead. She then looked over at where Sesshomaru was, but he wasn't there. She sniffed the air to try to get his scent. She finally caught a faint smell of him, just past the trees, where the spring was. She figured that he was bathing, and she didn't want to disturb him. She fought every urge of hers to go over and watch him. She decided to go find breakfast before he returned.

Sesshomaru waited for Sakura to wake up. He waited patiently in the springs that he was bathing in, but her scent went in the opposite direction.

'Where is she going?' He asked himself, not really wanting an answer. He really was only thinking of one thing right now, and she wasn't there. Sesshomaru closed his eyes, envisioning Sakura's curvy naked body in the springs with him. Sesshomaru wasn't the one to think of these things, but he just couldn't get her out of his mind.

"I must have her." He said aloud and stood up. The water dripping off his tall slender body, his wet hair framing around his face. He bathed naked in the sun to dry himself off, and dressed shortly afterwards. He sensed that Sakura was back at the campsite, so he made his way back to her. When he neared the site, he smelled a nearly lit fire, and meat cooking.

When he emerged from the woods, she looked up, smiled at him, and returned to cooking.

"I hope you like rabbit's meat. That's all I could find so early in the morning." She said, not looking up from the fire. Sesshomaru stood there at the beginning of the camp, watching her with his piercing stare.

'I need her.' He thought to himself as he looked over her entire body, envisioning it as he did at the springs moments ago.

"Lord Sesshomaru? Did you hear me?" Sakura had forcefully snapped him out of his fantasy.

"I said breakfast is ready." She handed him the rabbit's meat, and began to tear into hers. He ate his slowly, as he quietly watched her eat. Her fangs ripping into the fragile meat of the rabbit. She sensed Sesshomaru watching, and she decided to see how he would act if she were to insinuate something other than eating. Her youkai blood kicking in just ever so slowly, she began to lick her fingers slowly, pretending to get the juice of the rabbit's meat off. She sucked lightly at her pointer finger, running her fangs so very lightly down the slender finger. A small groan exited Sesshomaru. He watched her tongue ride down the very top of her finger, slipping into her mouth, down until the finger vanished inside. A small groan rumbled inside her throat, and instantly Sesshomaru reacted. He dropped his meat to the ground, and dove over to Sakura. He pushed her down to the hard ground with a growl, and let his hand roam over her body roughly. His mouth crushed against hers in an intense passion, bruising them ever so slightly. Sakura instantly let him have access to the inside of her mouth, and he began to explore every inch with his tongue. She played along, dancing with his tongue, and wrapping hers around his every now and then. Sesshomaru's hand roamed all over her voluptuous breasts, wanting her clothes off now more than ever. Sakura didn't want things to go out of hand. She wanted nothing but her and Sesshomaru. And she definitely didn't want anything to happen in the forest, of all places. She broke free of Sesshomaru's lips, and panted for breath.

"L-lord Sesshomaru….l-let us go home." She panted out, and he looked at her with a deep dark stare that she couldn't read into. He simply closed his eyes, and nodded once. Sesshomaru agreed that it wasn't fit to take Sakura on the forest floor for all eyes to see. Sesshomaru was above that. They weren't far from the castle anyways, and they could make it there in no time, and surely continue. Sesshomaru climbed off of Sakura, and adjusted his Hakama as Sakura helped herself up, and smoothed her hair.

"Let's go." Sesshomaru said in a monotone, and conjured up his cloud, big enough for Sakura to ride along side with him. She climbed on, and held onto Sesshomaru's hip, as they ride in the sky towards his castle.