Back again! I finally found the time to write up a few chapters to keep on the boiler just in case something happens. If I keep going at this pace, I may get the fic finished before I even post half of it! I'm almost half way through the plot of Inuyasha now. Of course, when we get to the Final Act portion of the manga, we'll be getting more original content and development, 'cause there won't be any filler episodes or movies to leech from. Hope you guys are excited for some original content.

I really overestimated Lord Sesshomaru's involvement in the Band of Seven arc. I expected it to run over a fair few chapters. I actually had it running over two chapters until yesterday, but both chapters were incredibly short, so I thought it was just smarted to clump them together into a normal-sized chapter.

Thank you everyone that read the last chapter and thank you AliceJr for adding this fic to your alerts! Thank you XxHeartMenderxX and Rachelnpink for adding this to your favourites!

Onwards we go!

Kagome Kagome

Scroll Twelve

The next few days I noticed a change in the way we travelled. Lord Sesshomaru didn't leave us and neither did Master Jaken. The six of us travelled through the day and well into the night, only pausing during the day for long enough for us to cram a quick meal down our throats, and only stopping when I couldn't keep my eyes open for long enough to keep Rin safely on A-Un. It wasn't a pleasant way to travel, but Lord Sesshomaru was cearly looking for something important, so I didn't make my thoughts known.

I wasn't the only one that noticed this new travelling tactic.

"Master Jaken, what's Lord Sesshomaru looking for?" Rin asked one morning after we'd played a few long rounds of I Spy.

"Naraku, of course!" the imp replied in a sharp tone, as if it was obvious that she should know. He looked back at us over his shoulder. I noticed now that he was speaking to me rather than Rin. "When Rin was kidnapped, our Lord grew very angry." Why was he telling me this, rather than Rin? She was the one asking him.

The way he said it was so pointed, that it had to have an underlying meaning to me.

My stomach dropped when I realised what it was.

Lord Sesshomaru wasn't looking for the monkey-pelt wearing man just to slap his wrist. He was going to kill him. Master Jaken was telling me straight that our Lord wasn't going to let this go. The sharp way he was looking at me when he said it was a warning to not try and stop it. "Our Lord is a proud being," Master Jaken continued after scolding Rin for being bigheaded. His next words assured me that I'd interpreted his warning right. "He may appear serene and composed, but when someone pulls a trick like that on him, he is most displeased."

Horror washed over Master Jaken's face when he bumped into the leg of said displeased being.

I winced when I heard the sound of flesh smacking flesh. "Lord Sesshomaru!" I scolded as Rin and I slipped from A-Un. Rin made a beeline to Master Jaken while I began towards Lord Sesshomaru. Even knowing that Lord Sesshomaru was searching out someone to kill them, I wasn't going to stop in my role as caretaker of the bunch of children that I travelled with. It was a role that I had taken on and would uphold, no matter the circumstances "Really, Lord Sesshomaru, you shouldn't hit him like that."

He gave the dog huff in response and I felt my lips tilt upwards slightly into an exasperated smile. It was the same reaction I got every time I scolded him for childish behaviour.

Relief coursed through me as I realised that I wasn't thinking anything negative towards the demon. It scared me that he was out for blood, and the possibility that that would change him in my mind scared me, too. But we both gave teh same reactions as usual, as if those reactions were as easy as breathing.

For now, Lord Sesshomaru was still the same strong protector I knew.

The two of us walked side-by-side in a pleasant silence for a while as Master Jaken pulled a Rin-carrying A-Un to try and catch up with us.

The man besides me muttered.

"Hmm?" My grey eyes flickered up to him questioningly.

"I smell poison. Continue travelling. I shall return soon."

"Come back to us safe, Lord Sesshomaru." He gave me a small nod before breaking away and disappearing into the tree-line in an effortless sprint.

"Where's Lord Sesshomaru going?" Master Jaken asked as he caught up with me.

I took the time to pet both A and Un and settle myself behind Rin on their saddle before answering. "He said he smelled poison, so he went to check it out." I buried my fingers in Rin's hair, combing through the tangled mess gently. "He said we should carry on travelling. He'll find us again when he's done."

We travelled at a much calmer pace without Lord Sesshomaru leading us, and settled for a break and a decent evening meal.

I untacked A-Un, claiming that even they needed a break from time to time when master Jaken demanded to know what I was doing. In the time that I had known the poor dragon, I'd only seen them without tack a few times.

They enjoyed the freedom, rolling around happily in the long grass, reminding me of a happy puppy, granted far less graceful than any dog I had ever seen as their heads banged together mid-roll. I laughed heartily at the two of them as the five of us settled down to rest for a while. We would get to our evening meal after we'd regained some energy. Constantly travelling took a surprising amount of energy out of you, even if you were sat on the back of a mount for the majority of said travelling.

"Master Jaken, Lord Sesshomaru is late, isn't he?" Rin heaved a sigh and swung her feet idly over the branch she was sat on. "I should have gone with him."

"Fool," the imp declared with a snort. "Lord Sesshomaru went someplace poisonous. If you'd gone with him, you wouldn't have lasted a minute."

I nodded along with the imp. "He's right, Rin. Lord Sesshomaru is a strong man. He can look after himself out there. The best thing we can do is to follow his orders and wait for him to get back. I'm sure he won't be much longer now. We're always together by sunset."

Rin fell silent for a long while.

"What's the matter, Rin?" Master Jaken asked when the silence got too much for him.

"Oh...nothing," she mumbled. I had a feeling she was missing Lord Sesshomaru. I pat her back gently as we fell once again into silence.

A short time later a flash of white in my peripheral vision had me turning my head. A bright smile took over my features. "There he is. Why don't you go on and greet him? Master Jaken and I will get dinner sorted for us." I knew with Lord Sesshomaru back, we wouldn't have the chance to have breaks. We'd be back to his military operation; work, inhale food then work some more, until we dropped.

Lord Sesshomaru approached Master Jaken and I as we began divvying out nuts and berries that we'd collected in our miniscule breaks. Keeping foods like this on us allowed for us to eat quickly and easily. It was ideal for this sort of travelling.

"We travel in the direction of the oxen tiger once you've eaten."

"Yes, Lord Se-" I paused in my speech as I raised my head from the berries I was sorting into three piles. "You're all wet," I stated needlessly. Lord Sesshomaru was soaked trough. His silver hair was plastered to his skull and back; his silk clothing was clinging to his body, showing off his powerful shoulders and impressively muscled thighs quite well with the see through white material; the cream-coloured fur over his shoulder was saturated and clumped together. The only thing that didn't seem dripping wet was his armour. Had he just jumped into a river?

"I was covered in a poison deadly to the likes of you," he explained simply. "Eat."

"Ah, yes, my Lord. Rin, come get some food."

I watched Lord Sesshomaru out of the corner of my eye as he moved towards A-Un. 'What a shame,' I found myself thinking as my eyes strayed from his shoulders to settle on the armour protecting his back. I bit my lip and forcefully returned myself to my task. I was missing male company wholly too much if I was looking to Lord Sesshomaru with my lustful eyes. Maybe I should follow my Lord's suit and dunk myself in a cold river. It had to be this place's equivalent to a cold shower.

I giggled to myself as I popped a sweet berry in my mouth.

My eyes gravitated back towards Lord Sesshomaru, watching as he retacked an unimpressed A-Un. Lord Sesshomaru was the sort of man that silently encouraged Master Jaken, Rin and I to care for ourselves as much as we could with little things, like gathering our own food and starting our own fires. As such, he didn't often help out around camp. None of us complained about this, all for our own reasons. Master Jaken had served under Lord Sesshomaru for, as he'd told the wolf boys, many centuries, so he had ample time to get used to the way thinsg worked. Rin had lived her life caring for herself so was used to doing it all herself anyway. I enjoyed the chance to learn and be independent.

Lord Sesshomaru helped us in other ways. He protected us from demons when Master Jaken couldn't. He made sure we had the necessities we needed, like the dochuugi's I'd asked him for. And occasionally, like right now, he did things that the rest of us would struggle with. A-Un's saddle was heavy. I'd just managed to untack them safely myself. Hoisting the large saddle back onto them would have been quite a difficult task for me to do.

"Thank you," I called out to him as he ran a clawed hand down Un's neck slowly. His golden eyes found mine for a long moment before he turned away.

"Goodness," I breathed, staring up at the mountain that we'd been led to the base of. Lord Sesshomaru ordered us to wait here while he scouted around the base. Rin echoed my sentiment.

A loud thud behind us had us both spinning around. A-Un and Master Jaken were both on the ground, looking exausted and in a great deal of pain. The sudden onslaught of that pain worried me. They'd both been okay just a few minutes ago. I dropped to one knee besides Master Jaken and laid a gentle hand atop his head. "Master Jaken...?"

Behind me, Rin asked if he was okay.

The imp moaned. "This mountain is a holy sanctuary!" Holy sanctuary? What did that mean? "A concretion of demons like Naraku could never survive in a place like this..."

Demons? Was this a place that demons couldn't go? My eyes returned to the mountain with a new-found awe. Was there really such a place that wouldn't allow entry to demons? Fascinating. "Master Jaken, if you and A-Un are this sick, will Lord Sesshomaru be as ill, too?" I could care for Master Jaken and A-Un right now, but Lord Sesshomaru was off alone. I knew he could care for himself, but I was still worried.

"Lord Sesshomaru is stronger than I," Master Jaken assured.

Sick as he was, he was still trying to reassure me. I smiled down at him softly as I stroked the his head. "Thank you, Master Jaken." I looked up to the mountain. As awed as I was over the beautiful sight, I didn't want to stay here if it was harming Master Jaken and A-Un. The three of them didn't deserve to suffer being in this place. "I hope Lord Sesshomaru finds what he needs here quickly so we can leave."

I alternated between caring for Master Jaken and A-Un as we waited for Lord Sesshomaru's return.

It was during a changeover of caring that a ruckus disturbed us. As I moved from Master Jaken over to A-Un to see how the dragon was faring, I heard Master Jaken yell out to Rin.

When I turned, the little girl was running towards the mountain. "Rin!" I yelled out, sharp and truly angry at her for the first time. She ignored me. "That girl! I'll go fetch her, Master Jaken."

I strode forwards with determined steps. I'd never understood how even the kindest of people could get angry at children. Years ago, I had been determined to treat any children I had with nothing but love. The thought of getting angry at a child was affronting. Who could ever get angry at such an innocent creature as a child?

I understood it now.

How could Rin think it was okay to run off? This was twice now she'd run off after her kidnapping. Didn't the girl know how scared we were when she did that?

"Rin!" I called after her as she ran into a cave. Once again I was ignored. I huffed angrily as I followed after her. That child was- I cut myself off before I could even mentally name that comment. It was a comment in poor taste and I wouldn't entertain it. "Rin! You can't keep running... off..." Fear clogged my throat as I stared into the eyes of a hoard for demons crawling over each other further down in the cave.

"Walk back out," came a voice. "Slowly." Stood besides my Rin was the boy that had been stood over her with that wicked weapon when she had been kidnapped. I could see the kusarigama tucked into the back of his sash. His brown eyes met mine for a moment before falling away in shame. "Before they notice you."

Rin clutched to the back of his sash. "K-Kohaku...?"

"Go back, Rin! They'll tear you both to pieces!"

Rin's infinite kindness shone through when she questioned his own safety.

Kohaku gave a heavy, annoyed sigh. "They won't attack me. Now go!" he yelled. His eyes found mine again. "Get her our of her safely. Now."

I didn't trust the boy, but the demons were inching closer and I was itching to get back to Master Jaken and A-Un. "Rin, come on," I urged, limping backwards towards the mouth of the cave, reaching out for her. I kept my eyes on the beasts crawling closer to her as I moved backwards slowly. We were so close. One too-fast movement and we could be killed. "Let's get back to Master Jaken."

Nausea rolled my stomach.

"Y-Yes," the girl stuttered, following after me.

We emerged from the cave safe and began back towards Master Jaken. I noticed the tall white figure in the mist before I found Master Jaken or A-Un. Lord Sesshomaru had returned. Rin noticed him, too, and darted towards him with a girn on her face. "Lord Sesshomaru!"

Her running off again irked me, even if she was running to Lord Sesshomaru where she was safe.

By the time I got to the group everything was silent. Lord Sesshomaru was glaring up at the mountain while Rin and Master Jaken were staring at our Lord.

"What was that?!" I yelled, gesturing back towards the cave we'd emerged from. All eyes turned to me. "You can't run off like that, Rin!"

"Mio," Master Jaken broached, but I threw an arm out in his direction, cutting him off.

"No! No, she needs to hear this. It's dangerous out there, Rin! You've already been kidnapped before. That boy has already tried to kill you, yet you keep running off like you believe that you're exempt from the danger that preys on everyone here!" Her big eyes began to water as I yelled at her, but I persisted. If she didn't hear this, then she wouldn't learn. "This place is dangerous. There are bandits and demons around every corner and they're all going to want to hurt you, Rin! Every time you run off, you risk bumping into something that could very well kill you. You've been so lucky so far. I saved you from the wolves, Lord Sesshomaru saved you from that boy, he just saved you from those demons. What if next time you're not that lucky? What if next time you die before anyone can get to you? I would never forgive you for it!"

I inhaled deeply and stared hard at the girl for a long moment before turning and walking away. "We're leaving," I announced, stooping down to grab A-Un's reigns. The dragon followed after me obediently, not even uttering a breath too loudly. "I can't stand to stay here anymore."

My completely out of order demand was taken well, surprisingly. Everyone began to follow me without comment or complaint.

Lord Sesshomaru drew level with me as we walked at my brusque pace. "You're crying again," he pointed out.

"Yes, I know." I sniffed and wiped my eyes with the yellow and pink sleeve of my kosode.

Soon we found ourselves at an old wooden bridge that I really didn't trust. I eyed it warily as I held to A-Un's reigns. Lord Sesshomaru ddin't expect us to cross that, did he? It was just made out of wood and rope.

Lord Sesshomaru had taken over leading us after a short while and in silence the six of us walked. The silence between us all was tense and I felt guilt swarm me. I was the reason everything was so tense right now. I shouldn't have yelled at Rin like that. It wasn't my place.

I hazarded a peek over the edge of the cliff and bit my lip as I backtracked a little, putting myself safely back on solid ground.

A feeling that was quickly becoming familiar to me overtook me and I wheeled around to say something to Lord Sesshomaru, rubbing the raised hairs on my arm, just in time to watch Lord Sesshomaru deflect the strangest blade I had ever seen. The strange hair-raising feeling was starting to remind me of a gut instinct; like my body was telling my mind that something dangerous was on its way and I needed to watch out. The presence of the oddblade told me that I was right.

From the bush the blade emerged from, a person appeared.

The first thing I noticed were the blue tattoos on her face. No, not a woman. That voice was too masculine to be a womans, and the shoulders too broad and muscled.

A fight erupted between the two of them and from our place at the sidelines, we watched. Well, Rin and I watched. Master Jaken jeered. "Stupid mortal! Just stand still and accept your death!" It didn't look like the man would be accepting his death. He and Lord Sesshomaru looked quite well matched fighting at the moment. The young man's movements were far less graceful, mind, but neither of them had managed to land a proper hit on each other.

The three of us shreiked when the strange blade came towards us, stumbling backwards to avoid it. It tore through the ground an inch from my toes.

"Did you say something?" the man asked, sword raised above his head in a cruel threat.

"Jaken," Lord Sesshomaru snapped, coming to our rescue with an attack from behind.

"Y-yes, my Lord," Jaken replied jumping to his feet and pushing at the back of my leg to get me moving. "Let's get out of here."

I realised with great distaste that we were heading towards the bridge. "B-But-"

"We'll just get in Lord Sesshomaru's way," Master Jaken insisted.

I resigned myself to stepping hesitantly onto the wood. I clung to the rope as I inched along behind Rin and Master Jaken who were running across the wood. They were much more brave that I was. My eyes turned over my shoulder to watch the battle between Lord Sesshomaru and the tattooed young man. I hoped Lord Sesshomaru wouldn't kill the man.

The rope gave way under my tight grasp and I gasped in fright as I fell backwards, landing hard on my backside.

In front of me, a hot fire blazed, eating away at the wood and rope. No! What was Master Jaken doing? The bridge would never hold up being burned like it was.

I threw myself forwards as a hand punched through the wood from underneath and sent Rin flying towards the edge of the bridge. My hand found the collar of her kosode and yanked her towards me, wrapping my arms around her tightly as I could as the bridge gave way beneath us.

My eyes locked with the feral gaze of a tattooed man reaching out to Rin and I was we fell.

A scream tore from my throat.

My body was moving.

I was swaying.

There was water around me.

Cold.

Every part of me was cold bar a tiny pinprick of warmth seeping into my chest.

I moaned softly as my hand moved up to my aching head. I'd bumped far too many times recently. I was starting to get worried about giving myself any permanent damage as I went through the motions of figuring out how I got here. We'd fallen from the bridge. Rin and I had been separated in the fall and I'd blacked out when I fell into the river below.

I wasn't moving too much, just swaying in the current, so I must have been caught in some pond weed or something further down the river.

"After seeing Jaken playing dead, I didn't expect to find you playing the same game, Mio."

My heavy eyelinds cracked open. The light blinded me for a moment before I adjusted. Surrounding me were trees. We weren't in the mountains any more. I tilted my head to the left and blinked sluggishly as I gazed up at the man standing on the bank. His visage blurred and split into two before I squeezed my eyes shut.

"I think I have a concussion," I groaned. It couldn't be too bad; I wasn't feeling physically sick and my memory was perfectly intact. The only trouble I was having right now was with my vision. My eyes flickered open again and I reached for the bank. It took two tries for my hand to find the dirt.

A burning hand grasped the shoulder of my kosode and yanked me out of the water. The sudden movement left me feeling light-headed and dizzy. I slumped against the cold surface of Lord Sesshomaru's chestplate. "I'm delicate at the moment," I mumbled, trying to find my feet. "You have to be careful. Is Rin okay?"

"You were my first point of call."

I inhaled sharply and the palm of my hand struck the demon's chestplate with enough force to leave my hand stinging. Delicate could wait. "You didn't search for Rin first? What could possess you to put me before her? You have to go and find her!"

His golden eyes disappeared behind pink-steaked eyelids in a languid blink before the demon crouched slightly. His arm banded around my thighs as his fur-covered shoulder pressed into my stomach. When he straightened out, he hoisted me up so I was slung over his shoulder. I yelped and fisted my hands in the fur that was cushioning my stomach.

Upside down now, the dizzy feeling returned full-force and I groaned, burying my face in the fur. I'd touched his fur a few times in the past, but never really paid much attention to it. Now, with my face buried in it, and my mind not focussing on anything but what was right in front of me, I realised that it wasn't as soft as I always imagined it to be. It looked plush from a distance and I'd always imagined that it would feel fine and soft like cat hair. It was more coarse than that; thick and almost greasy feeling, like a dog's coat. It was warm, too, and firm. It didn't feel like a pelt, at all. More like a tail, like there was muscle and bone under the skin and thick fur.

Did demons have tails?

"I will allow that assault as I'm feeling manganimous towards you in light of your injury. I won't be so lenient next time, Mio." There was a beat of silence as he began to walk. "You will stay with A-Un while I retreive Rin."

"I do that a lot," I breathed. "Stay with A-Un..." I was pleased to stay away from the battle field mostly. I wasn't a person built for a battlefield. I would rather stay out of fights and danger. But a part of me was sore every time I was left behind. A part of me felt useless even though I knew that there was nothing I could do on a battlefield at the moment. "I think I should learn to fight. Or at least defend myself and Rin."

There was a long silence before my mumbling got an answer. "Say so when your mind is clear again and we will converse further."

"Master Jaken, please, I have a splitting headache and your voice isn't helping." I rubbed my forehead gently. Lord Sesshomaru had left me with A-Un and Master Jaken and left. In that time Master Jaken had hardly stoppped his unhappy ranting. I would usually have tried to ease his worried somewhat, but my head was pounding and I could hardly stand thinking, let alone speaking right now.

"Your head still hurts, Mio?" His voice grew concerned and, thankfully, quieter. "That is a long time for an ache like that to persist. Are you sure you're well?"

I tried at a reassuring smile. "It's a concussion." I was sure of it now. "The headaches may stay around for a couple of days before they ease off." I had a bit of experience with concussion-induced headaches and was certain that, while they were brutal now, they wouldn't cause much trouble in the days to come. "We'll all just have to try to be a bit quieter the next few days."

I knew before I even said it that what I was asking for was an impossibility. Our camp had no idea how to be quiet if it would save our lives. I expected nothing less from a hyperactive eight year old, an imp that used his voice rather than his countenance to be understood and a school teacher that spent her life raising her voice to gain the attention of unwilling teenagers.

My thoughts were confirmed by a loud call of Master Jaken's name.

A little grunt of pain left me as I raised my head. Running towards us was a visage that would have been truly wonderful if it didnt have terrible connotations of a loud, excited and happy voice. I wondered if curling up into a ball and covering my ears would do anything to help my poor head?

Not likely.

"Rin, you stupid girl!" Master Jaken squawked. "You must be quiet. Mio is in pain!" I admired his wish to help, but his voice truly tortured me more than Rin could manage.

They fell into whispers for a long while and I was thankful for the sudden change in volume.

"Lady Mio?" came a hesitant voice as dirty toes came into my field of vision. My gaze flickered up to the sad expression Rin was sporting. Her big brown eyes were filled with tears. "I'm sorry I worried you and I'm sorry I ran away and I promise I'lll never do it again! Please forgive me, Lady Mio!"

"Rin, honey, come here." I opened my arms to her and she dropped to her knees and fell into them, eagerly accepting my embrace. "I won't apologise for yelling at you, because you truly deserved it, but I forgive you." I felt guilty and felt like it wasn't my place, but those words needed to be said. "Of course I forgive you." I carefully pulled her head from my collarbone and cupped her cheeks. A smile curled my lips. "And, for as long as my eyes are black, I will never believe you when you say you won't run off again. Just take A-Un or some other form of protection with you when you do go from now on."

I patted her cheek and kissed her forehead, then pushed myself to stand. "Come on, let's get ourself some food cooking. I bet you're just as hungry as I am after such a day."

The camp was quiet.

My shoulders slumped and I stifled another yawn into my hand.

"If you are tired," spoke Lord Sesshomaru from his place up on high, perched on a large boulder that overlooked our small camp, "then you must sleep."

I shook my head as I looked up at him. "Not tonight." If I were back where I came from, I'd likely be under Saburo's watchful eye now. It had been hours since I'd hit my head and the headaches were still strong. "After the bump on my head earier, it's best if I don't sleep tonight."

He didn't answer that, but he didn't insist that I sleep again.

It must have been close to sunrise when I raised my head to him again. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry, for today at the river. It was out of line to hit you like that." I felt mortified that I had. Lord Sesshomaru hadn't deserved my temper. He'd come to save me after that fall and I'd yelled at him and hit him.

"I've allowed it to pass. There's no sense dwelling on what is forgiven and forgotten."

To be forgiven for hitting him definitely lifted a weight from my shoulders. I hadn't wanted one of my protectors being angry at me weighing me down. "Thank you for your kindness."

"Kindness," he repeated quietly, as if he couldn't believe that I'd use a word like that to describe him.

I chewed on the inside of my lip as my gaze turned to the dying embers of the fire. "Lord Sesshomaru...?" A memory of the feminine man at the cliff flashed before my eyes. I chewed harder on my lip. "Did you-" I cut myself off before I could ask the question.

Did you kill him?

Lord Sesshomaru very well could have killed him. He'd fought with him and had been fighting when the bridge had collapsed beneath us. Had he abandoned the fight to find us, or had he killed the man? The questions came unbidden to my mind and the curiosity ate at me, but I couldn't bring myself to ask the question.

What would knowing the answer achieve?

Nothing would change the past. If Lord Sesshomaru had killed the man, then he had killed him.

Master Jaken had warned me that I wouldn't be able to stop Lord Sesshomaru from killing those who opposed him. I'd already established that this place was a dog eat dog world. Sometimes here you had to kill to survive and Lord Sesshomaru was the sort of man that could do that; kill to survive. That was something I had to accept.

My toes curled in the dirt beneath them.

"Nevermind," I murmured.

An answer wouldn't change the past. I was better off not knowing.

I yawned as I nuzzled into A's mane. I'd managed to stay awake all night, but I was suffering because of it. I'd most definitely outgrown my university days, that was for sure. I had never felt so much of an old woman as I did now, trying to settle in for a nap with my arms wrapped around A's neck like he was an overgrown scaly teddy-bear.

A loud noise made me my head throb and I buried my face into the coarse fur I'd been using as a pillow.

Master Jaken's screech had me gritting my teeth and clenching my eyes shut.

Even Lord Sesshomaru's quiet voice telling Master Jaken to head back down the mountain in his absence had my head throbbing.

I hoped these headaches faded quickly. They were unbearable.

Information time!

Oxen tiger - As mentioned before, directions were taken from the twelve Zodiac constellations. Rooster was west in and older chapter, so Ox Tiger is North East.

Concussion - Mio certainly does have a concussion in this chapter. Concussions are characterised by a few symptoms. The ones that Mio show are, in no particular order: dizziness, confusion, headaches, vision troubles and behavioural changes. People with concussions can have major swings in their usual behaviour. This can be seen with Mio lashing out and smacking Sesshomaru.

For as long as my eyes are black - It's a Japanese expression, that pretty much means 'for as long as I'm alive.' If any of you have noticed my big obsession with Shonen Jump and the odd comments I've made here and there you'll know that I am a dire fan of Naruto. I first encountered this phrase while reading Naruto, and I decided to use this phrase as a Naruto cameo.

Review corner!

The Opheliac - I do have quite a few books. I've just bought three more yesterday and have five more on top of that coming in the mail. Try and guess how many books I actually own (Hint: its a lot). It makes me sad, too. Especially when I really get into it and I'm itching to read the next chapter and I don't realise it's abandoned, and I'm just about to press the next button, all excited to read what happens next when...there's no...next...button... cry. I've done that so many times. I'll certainly make sure to drop in any more decent Sesshomaru fics I read here for you. Yesss tacky and colourful can be beautiful. I own this really terrible shirt called a 'shite shirt' (that's the actual brand name!) and it's the embodiment of tacky and colourful. I love that shirt. One of my friends threatened to burn the shirt, and me wearing it, to a crisp if I ever wore it around her again. AHAHNO! Being British really isn't as fun and romantic as the Americans make it seem, I'm sorry to burst your bubble. I'm pretty much in the same place as you: I wanna be away from this place. It's not the nicest place to be. Actually not a lot of people bothered with black friday where I live. All the ladies at the hairdressers I was at were tittering about how stupid it was while I was getting my hair bleached. I honestly didn't care for black friday except for one place. The comic book store in my town was doing five comis for £1 (which is about $1.50) so I had to run down there and buy out their Nightwing collection. But maybe black friday was bigger in bigger places in the country? I live in a fairly small town so we don't get a lot of the stuff bigger cities get. I just love communicating with fans. Pfft, I'm gonna take you at your word there. f I dont get more fans talking to me down here by the end of the fic, I'm gonna shun you :p Mio's definitely at risk of caring too much. She even cared about Koga. Oh god, I haven't watched DHMIS in so long. I haven't seen the last couple of episodes. I might need to make some time to watch it. I'm chewing my way through a really good book at the moment. I'm about half way through it and I've only been reading it for maybe three days. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Incredible book. Can't wait to start reading the sequel. Oh, I KNEW I liked you! Courage and now Rocky Horror. I'm keeping you. Forget that threat about shunning you. I can't shun someone that likes such awesome stuff. I'm unfortunately not super face. I'm at a total downfall. Damn these lungs. Ehh, its fine. The hospital has given me worse bruises and I've been absolutely fine after they've healed up. Apparently me and my brother get that trait from my mom and her little brother. They were evil to each other. At least me and my little brother have our moments of being nice. We've actually been really good to each other recently. I've enjoyed sat playing Pokemon and Animal Crossing with him a lot over the past week or two. I'm so glad I nailed it! Yes, yes, Sesshomaru development! There'll be lots more of that in the upcoming chapters. The chapters over Christmas and into the new year are BIG chapters for that. I only watched the first season of Space Dandy then found myself distracted by Dragon Ball . It's actually made by the creators of Cowboy Bebop. I haven't watched CB yet. I need to get into it. It's supposed to be the best dubbed anime in history. Ayee, that quote's from Space Dandy. "Space Dandy. He's just a dandy guy...in space." I'd certainly recommend it. The bit I watched of Space Dandy is good. I think I drew Dandy when I was big into watching it. Health and happiness to you, too! See ya next episode!

Setsuna1986 - Nah, man. I've always hated that phrase. I would never be able to get on with my opposite. I wouldn't know what the hell to do with them. You have to have quite a big level of similarity to get on with someone. You'll see what happens in the future! I totally agree with you though. Humans are alarmingly fragile. I hate fics where the OC pisses me off. There was one particular fic where I loathed the OC. Could not stand her. But it was one of the handful of OC pairing fics with that one canon character up here on FFN so I just attempted to power through it, and by the end of the fic I adored the OC. She'd gone through so much development an it was absolutely beautiful. I still hate the OC in the beginning when I read that fic, but its by far one of my favourite fics on FFN now. Im hoping that the more I immerse myself in the series, the easier it'll become to write the characters. I'll just have to spend every waking moment reading InuYasha until I've got all the characters down pat. Jaken has a lot of admiration for Sesshomaru and I honestly do think that some of it's misplaced. I think that Jaken chooses to see the good and endure the bad in his relationship with Sesshomaru. Its a very common thing in relationships; specially abusive ones. Though there is respect on both sides that does lay a pretty good relationship out between them. Im gonna stop analysing that relationship before I drive myself nuts! We'll both burst with feels. There are gonna be a lot of feels in the next couple of chapters. The Woman Who Loved Sesshomaru and Swords of an Honourable Ruler are very big plotpoints in this fic. Many feels. I completely agree with you! If you're always happy, you can't appreciate happiness the way you can if you've suffered before. Knwing sadness leads you to know greater happiness. Pfft, well, it's true. She's surrounded by overgrown children. Grumpy child-imp, actual child, and sulky man-child. They're all children. I was pissing myself when I was writing Hakkaku and Ginta. I adore those two so much and they're such a breath of fresh air with their adorableness. This fic was seriously lacking in adorable naive characters until those two blundered in. Yessss, that scene was cute. I loved the thought of Mio held close to Sesshomaru like that while he's protecting her. I think I'm going to disappoint you somewhat here, but it'll still be a fair while before Mio accepts that she needs to learn to fight. She's made a little development in this chapter, in the fact that she doesn't fight to keep Sesshomaru from killing Jakotsu and doesn't ask about Jakotsu later, but she has a long way to go. She won't learn to fight for a long while yet. She's still resisting the darkness the feudal era presents. I don't think Mio will ever be someone you could call a predator, though. She's just too soft-hearted for that.

I would have liked to use the anime version of the first scene, because I think Jaken's words in that scene would have warranted a whack more than his comment in the manga, but in the end I decided to keep to the manga to show off our Lords wonderfully childish personality.

Some good Sesshomaru-perving going on in this chapter. Mio is human! She's sweet and kind, but she's a twenty six year old woman that hasn't been around any good male company in weeks. If you were paying very close attention, you would have noticed something in the flashbacks of her death a few chapters ago that really solidified the fact that our Mio isn't a sweet, innocent virgin. She's a woman that misses sex. And honestly, who wouldn't look at Sesshomaru's incredible version of a wet T-shirt competition? I'm certainly not that strong of a man, and we already know that Mio isn't the strongest woman around.

I really think that Sesshomaru would have just dunked himself in a river until he couldn't smell poison any more then been on his way. Sesshomaru seems like a man that likes effficiency and quick ways of doing things. Whats more efficient and quick at cleaning poison from your skin and clothes than just dunking yourself in a river? It definitely takes less time than stripping and scrubbing down all your clothes.

I don't like the representation that Sesshomaru does nothing around camp that I see a lot of the time. Lord Sesshomaru isn't a lazy person. I don't see him as the type to not help out at all. Yes, I've written him reclining under a tree just watching a few times in this fic myself, but that isn't all he does. I see Sesshomaru doing a fair amount for his pack and wanted to use that. A-Un has belonged to Sesshomaru for a long time. Tacking and untacking them would be something that he would have had to do countless times in the past, as Jaken doesnt have the ability to do it safely. So we get to see him doing mundane things rather than standing around acting noble at all times.

We see Mio truly angry! Bet you guys thought she couldn't yell at someone she cared about.

So Mio's finally cottoning onto the sixth sense she has. Had any of you noticed the reoccurance of that feeling she's been getting right before she meets something not quite human?

No Bankotsu. Can we have a moment to mourn here? I feel wrong writing an InuYasha fic without my favourite character in it.

I realised while I was writing Mio interacting with A-Un this chapter that I seemed to favour writing about Un interacting with Mio and that, as far as I remember, I hadn't written anything about just A. I think that may be because when I write, I picture the scene playing out like an episode of anime and Mio seems to always be placed on the right side of the screen. Un is the head to the right so he's always closer to Mio and it just happens that he's the one that gets talked about because of that. I made a conscious effort to use A in this scene, though, because I dont want him to feel left out.