Bakusaiga sang as it sliced through the air, a familiar melody that always had the power to ground and center him. Sesshomaru flowed through katas that felt so natural as to be written into his bones. They may as well be. He moved from one style to the next without pause or consideration. Just feeling the heft of the blade in his hand as an extension of his spirit. He alternated between attacks meant for single combat and those for dealing with hordes. At times, his youki flared out in the shape of his poison whip to snap at invisible enemies.

He ended on a lightning quick arc that spun him on one foot.

A whistle from the side drew his attention to his audience. Kagome and her companions, standing under some low branches watching him practice. Shippo said, "Wow!"

"Show off. Waking us up at the crack of dawn with his damn noise," grumbled Inuyasha, his arms crossed over his chest. "So he can dance. Big deal." The hanyou turned his nose up and stalked off. The others drifted off in his wake, one at a time until only the miko remained.

Sesshomaru sheathed his sword and approached her. She smiled up at him and gestured that they should go after the rest. He fell into step at her side and remarked, "This Sesshomaru left camp well before dawn to avoid alarming the pack."

"It did sound like you battled an army out here."

"I usually practice in solitude. I will fly further away from now on."

"Don't have to on my account." Kagome followed his gaze to where his hanyou half-brother stomped and fumed at the fore. "Oh. Inuyasha? Don't take him too seriously. He's just a little jealous, is all."

"The hanyou is right to be. I will always be the more powerful." He smirked.

She laughed at his preening. Her voice took on a playful tone, "I dunno. He's pretty good. And who knows how good he'd have been with the benefit of your 'classical education.'" She did a funny little motion with her fingers. First and middle extended, curling twice as though to frame the words she spoke. Strange.

"It is true that he has on occasion surprised this Sesshomaru. I have pondered much on whether it had been pure accident or tactical brilliance. This Sesshomaru remembers well the sting of his Wind Scar."

Kagome grinned at him and reached out to squeeze his arm. He welcomed her touch and covered her small hand with his own. Then her gaze turned distant and she mused, "Do you ever wonder if your father, I dunno, had plans? For you and Inuyasha?"

"If he had not expired, you mean?"

"Think about it. He had one son to be his heir to the West. Then he had another with a human woman. If it had been simple lust, he wouldn't have cared. He wouldn't have given Inuyasha Tessaiga." Kagome's eyes twinkled as she spun these fanciful imaginings. "He wouldn't have put you two at odds that way without reason. What if he wanted a . . . connection to the ningen world? What if he never meant you to be enemies at all?"

Fascinating, if completely alien to his way of thinking. Sesshomaru shrugged. "I do not know. Nothing in the papers he left suggested such a thing. Nor is it the usual practice to acknowledge hanyou bastards, even as second sons."

"The way you say that. You really have a grudge against him, don't you?"

"This Sesshomaru sees that because of his father's sentimental attachment to his mistress and mongrel offspring, the Inu No Taisho fell to humans." He didn't mean to sound so scornful, but old habits are hard to break. "He should have fell to my hand. No one else's."

"You would have killed your own father?" This startled her, he saw.

"I am youkai. It is our way."

"I'm not sure if I should feel horrified or not."

"It just is. At times, your people's ways seem just as strange to me."

"Hmm," she hummed in thought, stroking her chin, "Like what?"

"The way ningen crowd each other in villages. You have no sense of territory. And you don't fight each other for more. Youkai are never content with what they have."

"Some humans do. Fight over land, I mean."

"Not the majority. Most live in communities and labor." Sesshomaru glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "And you will never find a youkai who cooperates with others without the desire for material gain."

"Oh? What did you have to gain when you helped Shippo and me kill that monster? When you saved the kit's life?"

He didn't have an answer for that. He could say the destruction of another of Naraku's misbegotten beasts or maybe the chance to flex his arm and show his power, but none of that felt right. Sesshomaru could tell her he did it to gain her favor, but also, that rang false. She'd been in danger. He acted. The taiyoukai grunted. He struggled to answer within his people's tenets, "Hn. It seems this Sesshomaru had something to lose, then. Something he did not wish to."

She laughed. "You make it sound so passionless, but I think we're rubbing off on you. I think you've learned to like letting us 'crowd' you."

Sesshomaru couldn't refute her words. Had he not thought himself how he'd missed their company? Her company? "Perhaps ningen carry some kind of disease contagious to youkai. A disease of . . . camaraderie."

"And maybe we caught avarice from youkai," she teased. Kagome flicked her hair back over her shoulder. "It's not so a bad thing, being friendly. Look at all the youkai that dwell among humans. They are by far the least destructive."

He nodded in reluctant agreement. "But they are not the greatest of youkai."

"Aren't they? What makes these aloof demons so great? Strength? Power? You've implied that it only makes them hungry for more. Sounds like instead of mastering their desires, their desires mastered them." When did she get so wise? Were all ningen in the future this intelligent? She had a way of gifting him with a whole new and vastly different perspective. Yet she still had more to say, "Look at Inuyasha. You can't deny he has strength and power, yet he's learned to use that to defend and protect. He was not as great when he strove only for the means to become a full youkai."

She would turn his whole world upside-down with these thoughts. And somewhere, deep in the back of his mind, wheels began to turn.

The battle dragged on until sundown and once the horde that had stood against them lay vanquished, the entire pack stood spent and bloody. All of them, even Sesshomaru, though he did his best not to show it.

Inuyasha fell back and lay full out upon the ground, breath heaving. "Let's . . . just make . . . camp here tonight."

"No, please, it's just a little further to Edo. Then a hot bath and some instant noodles . . .." Kagome's knees trembled as she tried to take a few steps down the road. "I got midterms tomorrow. C'mon, guys, just a bit more."

Shippo, face grey with weariness, dragged himself after her, then pitched face first into the dirt as well, groaning. "Ninjaaaa-fooooood . . .."

Just then, Rin and Ah-Un came out from where Sesshomaru bid them to hide at the outset of the fighting. The little girl called a greeting, "Sesshomaru-sama!"

He gave a small nod and beckoned her and the two-headed mount closer. To Ah-Un, he flicked a finger in the fox kit's direction. Ah dipped his head and picked the boy up by his scruff and put the kit on his back. Rin held onto Shippo so he wouldn't fall.

Sesshomaru prodded Inuyasha with a toe. "Up. Show me that strength the miko insists you have. This Sesshomaru has his doubts."

The jab did its work well. With a growl, the hanyou stood and reached for Kagome to carry her. Sesshomaru stepped between them and said, "I will take her." He lifted her by the waist and set her on his back. His hands curled under her knees, stroking the skin there in appreciation. Kagome giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt her bury her face in his moko-moko.

Rolling his eyes, the hanyou turned and looked to see who else needed help. Sango rode Kirara, though the nekomata did little but drag herself along the ground on her belly. That only left one unassisted ningen. "Aw, but that means I have to carry the priest!"

"Gee, Inuyasha, I like you, too." Miroku said, sour and sarcastic, from where he leaned on his staff.

"Fine. Climb on." Inuyasha crouched before the priest and helped him get situated on his back. "I swear, though, if your hands wander anywhere near my junk, I'm gonna bite them off at the wrist."

"No fear, friend. This priest only has eyes for the ladies."

"Oh? So, that wasn't a cross-dresser I saw you fondle in Kyoto?" Inuyasha led the pack down the road, swaying like a drunkard in his weariness.

"Possibly. If so, he worked so hard at the deception, I thought to give him a reward. He should've been flattered." The priest sighed and rubbed his jaw. "A stronger right hook from a woman I have never received."

They made it to Kaede's village well after night fell. As one, the pack groaned in relief as they set aside their burdens at the old priestess' door. The door slid aside and Kaede stepped out to greet them. Inuyasha made to shuffle past her and she stopped him with an outstretched hand. "You reek. And you're covered in blood!"

"Yeah? Well, that's what happens when a buncha demons jump you." His attitude made the prickly old ningen slap him with the ladle that never strayed to far from her hand. "Ow! What was that for? Aren't I beat up enough?"

"Maybe someone should beat the insolence out of you," threatened the woman with a clenched fist. "No one comes into this house until they're clean!"

"Now listen here, you fat, stupid old bi-!"

"Osuwari," said the tired miko.

With a loud and resounding thud, Inuyasha fell to the porch face first, compelled by the prayer beads around his neck. Sesshomaru fought a smile of amusement as the hanyou grumbled, "The whole fuckin' world's against me, I swear to Kami."

"Perhaps if you didn't invite its ire with careless tongue-" started the taiyoukai.

"Shut up, Sesshomaru," snarled the prone Inuyasha, but the words lacked heat. The hanyou must truly be tired.

The others trudged off in the direction of the springs and Sesshomaru followed.

"Mmm, you smell nice," mumbled Kagome into his ear. "It's not fair. I probably stink."

"You smell like honest toil and shed blood. It is not . . . unpleasant." His words that meant to comfort made her give a soft chuckle.

"Thanks, I guess? Still, it'd be nice to never have b.o. Lucky demon."

"This Sesshomaru forgives your human failings." He couldn't resist spreading his hands along the underside of her thighs. Certain other thoughts arose in his mind. Just then, they arrived at a series of pools. He didn't see the rest of the pack, but he could hear them, somewhere beyond the curtain of the low-hanging branches that made a natural screen. "We are here. Would you like to join the others?"

"Hm? Not coming with me?" She slid off his back and stretched.

"This Sesshomaru prefers to bathe alone."

Kagome bit her lip as she looked toward where the sounds of her friends filtered through the night air. Then she turned to him with a sparkle in her eye. "Alone alone?"

He let a dark smile curl his lips. "Perhaps he will allow one other."

"Good." She mirrored his smirk and took him by the hand, leading him further from the others to a more secluded area. She set her pack down at the water's edge and kicked off her shoes. Then she started wading out into the pool.

"Are you going to bathe fully clothed?" he asked, puzzled.

"They need a wash anyway." Then she lifted her shirt over her head and treated him with a view of her slender back, bare but for a slim white breastband of some sort. Kagome slipped the straps down her shoulder and with a practiced motion, unclasped the device, letting it fall to the water. Then she looked at him over one shoulder and said, "Are you just going to stand there all night, Sesshomaru-sama?"

Until then, he hadn't noticed that he'd frozen while watching her. With an inner shake of self-admonishment, he started the tedious undoing of all his armaments. Swords, armor, haori and hakama soon piled up near her pack. He looked up to see that she'd undressed fully and paused to watch him, her eyes big and round. With slow and deliberate steps, he entered the pool. Its waters, pleasantly warm, lapped around his thighs, but it was her gaze that filled him with heat. His member gave a lurch when her tongue came out to wet her lips.

Sesshomaru sat and beckoned with one hand. She came to him without hesitation, her small hands touching his knees to pull herself closer. They slid up his legs and he shivered as his loins tightened, hard and aroused. He reached out and grasp her slim waist, delighting in their graceful curve. Turning her around, he sat her in his lap and pulled her back into his chest. Free to play, his hands roamed over the landscape of her skin, searching out all her sensitive spots. She moaned as his fingers found the peaks of her breasts, back arching. Her hips rolled back, pressing his aching cock between them.

The taiyoukai hissed, wanting nothing more than to drive into her and lose himself. But he held back. They had time. No need to rush this. With both hands, he spread her thighs so they lay outside his. Then he pushed them even further apart with his knees. Over her shoulder, he could just see how open and wanting she was. He moaned into her shoulder. His fingers found her slick folds and worked at them until she breathed so very fast in reaction, her heartbeat thrumming in his ears. When they found her entrance and sunk deep, her body went rigid as a tense wire. She cried out into the night and he put his other hand over her mouth lest she draw her pack's attention. In and out of her, his fingers danced. Her hot tunnel still so tight and firm. He knew she had to be close and wanted to feel her around him as she came.

Lifting her, he rocked his hips back and forth, the head of his cock teasing her by popping in and out. He could feel her growing desperation. When her hands came down to squeeze him and hold him in place, he could no longer hold back. His teeth found her nape. He thrust and pulled her down at the same time. Sheathed in her molten center, he stopped to catch his breath.

Then she started to move on him. He pulled back in shock as wave after wave of intense pleasure washed over him. Never had a female taken the lead with him before. His eyes drew down to where they joined, or would have if the plane of the water didn't obfuscate. Instead, he became entranced with the sight of her buttocks dipping in and out of the pool. He found it highly erotic, the way she bounced, the water rolling off her hips. Hips he covered with his palms. When her body drew taut and her back bowed, he felt her pulse and squeeze and undulate on him. The tang of fresh blood filled the air and he peered around her shoulder to see that she'd stifled her own cry of completion by biting into her palm. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she went limp against him.

Picking her up, he lay her on the edge of the pool, never removing his cock from her depths. He ran wondering hands over slick skin, following his touches with bites and nibbles. He just wanted to devour the whole of her. He thrust into her, eliciting a fresh moan from her that set his nerve endings on fire. Leaning down, he nuzzled her jugular with a growl. Part of him, a very male part, wanted to punish her for her wanton show of dominance over him. Another wanted to show her how he'd enjoyed it. He assuaged both by pounding into her tight heat fast and hard.

Fast losing control of his beast, he seized her throat in his fangs. Her head rolled back, offering her life to him if he so chose. Did she know how that pleased him? How that drove him out of his mind? Reaching his peak, he bit down on his tongue to keep from howling and emptied himself into her. Spurt after spurt left him, he shuddered with each one. He lapped at her neck and buried his hands in her hair, feeling like if he did not anchor himself to her, he may just float away on the tide of his climax.

Ardor cooling, he met her blue gaze. She watched him with the light of some great emotion in her eyes. It made her impossibly beautiful. He did not care any more about their differences.

She laughed, soft and musical. "What's that?"

"Hmm?"

"That. On your face." Her fingers, cool against his fevered flesh, slid along his jaw, and her thumb glided across his bottom lip. "I do believe that's a smile. And not your usual 'I'm about to annihilate you' smile, but a real one."

He scowled at her in mock anger and slid off her to drop back into the pool. Sesshomaru let himself sink until only his head remained above water. She pulled a couple of items from her pack before following him. Bottles of things that she lay on the spring's lip. "Oh, I'm so tired and . . .-"

"Sated?" he asked with one raised brow.

She blushed and looked at him shyly. "That, too. I can't sleep with dirty hair, though." She wet her hair and squirted something from one of the bottles into it. Before his eyes, she worked it into a foaming mass. Kagome rinsed it clean with a dip, then turned to him, gesturing at his locks that spread around him. "Do you want me to . . .?"

Curious, he nodded. And that's when he found out about shampoo and even more, the wonders of de-tangler. It felt so good to have her fingers running through his hair, it must be a sin. "Truly, the future is a place of luxury."

"Speaking of which, I'm going to be heading back there tomorrow for about a week."

He frowned, but what could he do? She had her own path to walk and that sometimes led her out of his grasp.

"Will you wait for me?" she asked, plaintive and unsure.

Sesshomaru turned a quizzical eye on her. Did that mean he affected her as much as she affected him? He couldn't seem to go an hour without thinking of her. Did she know the same thirst? It felt oddly good to know that she missed him. "Hai, Kagome. This Sesshomaru has tasks to complete, but he will be here on the sixth day to see the miko return."

Then she smiled a joyful smile that made his heart skip a beat and it felt like perhaps such a good and right thing as that smile could shut out the world's cruelties for just a little while.