DISCLAIMER
Dun own InuYasha. Uh... Yeah...

Chapter XXI: Unsaid Truce and Friendship

"Lord Sesshomaru! Lady Rose! Where'd you go-Lady Rose!! Oh Kami, you're bleeding!" Kasiya cries as she spots the two beings, with Kiley, Cecilia and Shawn behind them.

"She was attacked, tend to her, Kasiya," the lord said as he gently hands over Rose. Even with the stone, she turned a bit weaker from the effort.

"Da hell happened?? And who da HELL are they?!" Inuyasha demands as he watches from a tree limb.

"Oh?? Ya didn't tell meh ya had a brother that's a hanyou!" Kiley squeals as Cecilia peers up.

"FEH, what's it to ya if I'm a hanyou or not?!" the half-breed growls as he glares at them.

Cecilia shrinks back a little, but Kiley laughs as she pats her sister's head, even with the cap on the fiery-colored hanyou.

"Cecilia, nothin' to fear, remember? I'm here!" Kiley said reassuringly.

"...O-okay..."

"Koira," Sesshomaru said, the said servant appearing a minute later.

"Lord?"

"These people needs residence within the castle. Please see to it."

"O'course, mi'lord!" She's very worried for her charge, Rose, but because Lord Sesshomaru has that look on his face that says don't question him, she knows best to leave things be until later. The neko youkai rushes off to the castle.

"General Damsei! Have every guard positioned outside the walls. And tell them to be aware for anything, including an snake youkai and a griffin youkai."

"Yes, sir!" the general said as he salutes, then rushes off to his army.

'I will not be caught unguarded. All that belongs to this castle will be protected.'

All the while that Lord Sesshomaru were preparing his army to defend, Kasiya tends to Rose carefully. The cheetah youkai winces every time Kasiya applies something to her wound. Soon enough, though, her stomach starts to mend after the poison from Rachel's claws were purified, and her stomach gets wrapped up after Kasiya also checked her back.

"Looks like many of the wounds were reopened from whatever happened," the water phoenix youkai said gently as Rose lays back down; Kasiya refuses her to leave, even to her own room. "But the opened wounds shall mend quickly again."

"...I-"

"Iie, not a word, Lady Rose. When I have some help, you'll be moved to your room. But right now, you are to rest, even sleep if you can."

Accepting defeat, Rose slowly nods her understanding of the situation. She sighs as she tries to relax on the matt that was placed on the table beforehand.

"...Arigatou, Kasiya," she said softly with a small, genuine smile, just as she closes her eyes.

'Hm... Her aura is much lighter than it has been before...' Kasiya thought as she watches her injured charge. 'Her clothes are much more... revealing than she wore before. What has she been doing before the attack?' She shakes her head as she carefully stands, her tail feathers now free of the chair. 'I best get her a new attire.'

"Kasiya." She turns to find her lord in the doorway, walking in far enough to stand just inside the room.

"Mi'lord?"

"She will heal quickly and regain strength. Don't concern yourself too much."

"I know that, Lord Sesshomaru. But thank you for your words," the phoenix said as she bows. "What had happened to her, though? And where have you two been? Please," she adds when his eyes narrowed at her.

"...We have been in her time frame," he replies after slight consideration about revealing that Rose is not of their time line. Kasiya, he can trust with his prideful life.

"So you've finally learned where she disappears to!" she said with a gentle smile that reaches her eyes. "But apparently, it didn't go so well at the end, did it, mi'lord?"

"I'll tell ya it didn't!" Kiley growls as she suddenly comes into the room, going past Sesshomaru. Kasiya raises an eyebrow, but her Lord doesn't make a move to silence the blue inu youkai. "A backstabbing friend! Da bitch!"

"Ya know, Kiley, Rose is kinda, sorta, oh I don't know... sleeping?" Shawn said quietly from the doorway.

"The young man makes a very good point, please be quieter," the phoenix youkai said sternly.

"Sorries, but God..."

'Her mood is much like a storm that keeps changing,' Sesshomaru thought as Kiley sits in a chair, suddenly looking cheerful again.

"At least she's gonna live, that's what counts at the moment."

"Agreed. Now, what happened, mi'lady?"

"One, I'm Kiley, not 'mi'lady'. Second..."

'She will never learn to be quiet, will she?' Rose thought as she cracks one eye to look at the others while Kiley goes on about telling what happened.

'I thought you were to be asleep,' Sesshomaru said in her head. She mentally shrugs.

'With Kiley around, who could?'

Sesshomaru couldn't argue with that logic as Rose closes her eye shut again.

"...So that is the reason of the extra guards," Kasiya said to Sesshomaru. He nods as she looks back to Rose. "She had a jewel shard in her..."

"Yeah, though it's all as clear as mud fer me," Kiley said while she pulls out the shard that she retrieved from the dismembered hand. "What's so frickin' great about a broken-up jewel?"

"You don't know of the Shikon Jewel?" Kasiya is thoroughly surprised to hear this.

"Uh, why else am I askin' in the first place?"

"I've only heard of it from my grandfather..." Shawn said, again quietly. "But how did Rose get a shard of the thing in her?"

"Perhaps when the scorpion youkai stabbed her from the first attack, the shard in it, got stuck in her."

"Possible, mi'lord. But then how did the beast then reform its form after dismembered severally?"

"That was one of its abilities, I believe, or else the remaining powers of the shard within him granted the want of being whole again."

"Well, whatever it all was, at least we know why da hell Rachel kept on about it. We're jus' lucky that Rose didn't get in a worse state it could have." Crossing his arms, Shawn looks at the others.

"Very true." Kasiya couldn't agree more with anyone, even if it is a stranger. "Now, let's leave this room so that Rose will have a little bit of peace."

'Boy, peace... I feel as though I am laying here in pieces...' Rose thought just as Sesshomaru nod and turns to leave. A small smile forms on the lord's lips as he leaves the room with the others.

---

"A-are you okay now, Lady Rose?"

"Yes, Astor, I really am alright now," Rose said with a gentle laugh. She's surprised to always have patience with the kids, especially Rin, Astor and Cecilia. Shippou, she can almost handle, but she rather have Kagome keep him around her, not Rose. She sits in her room with a kimono on instead of the more revealing outfit she had on, so she wasn't going to complain so much about the kimono. "You do not have to keep asking."

"I-I know, b-b-but-"

"Hey, I am sitting here, fine, whole, and not dead! What more is there to being alive?"

"S-sorry. I-I was just r-really scared..."

Rose pulls him into a hug, though she finds that more than one kid wanted to be comforted. She ends up with all three hugging her tightly.

'Sheesh, I am such a foster mother...' she said to herself as she finally have all three let go of her. 'Or is this a babysitting deal...? Meh...' "Cecilia, when is Kiley going to come get you?"

Cecilia mumbles out her answer, which Rose didn't even understand. She asks the little hanyou to repeat as she leans closer.

"She said once she was done with exploring the castle..."

"Okay, so now I have a reason to not beat on her?" Rose said jokingly, the little girl giggling softly.

"U-um, your n-name is Cecilia?" Astor said as he comes around to finally talk to the inu hanyou. She nods while clutching onto her cap.

"Cecil, did Kiley not tell you that you do not have to wear your cap here? You are safe, really. If Lord Sesshomaru has no problem with you, no one else will. Or else they face mine and your sister's wrath."

She giggles again as she slowly pull her cap off, Rin exclaiming in delight as Cecillia's red dog ears are now seen.

"They're so cute!" she said with a grin, making the very shy girl smile a little.

"Cecilia, how did you manage to get through the class in school with a cap?" Rose asks as she cocks her head to the side in curiousity.

"Sissy told them that it was a medical reason..."

"Ahh. That works." Rose laughs softly to not upset her wounds, especially the one in the stomach area.

"...U-um, Cecilia, w-w-would y-you like a t-tour of the g-g-g-gardens? The f-flowers are pretty, n-now that they w-were replanted," Astor offers, wanting to be nice.

"Sure," Cecilia said with a very small smile.

"Lady Rose, can you come with us?" Rin asks the winged woman. Rose smiles even more.

"Sure, let us see if I do not kneel over and end up dead while walking along," she replies as she stands up a bit slowly. "Just as long as you all don't run ahead, I will be able to keep up."

"Wait! I got an idea of what to do when we get out there!" Rin said as she runs out of the room. When she returned, it was with a brush and some hair ties and ribbons.

"Uh-oh, does that mean you want to mess with my hair?" Rose asks while chuckling.

"Pleeeeeaaaaaaase??"

'GAWD, she makes a very good puppy-dog face...' "Okay, okay!" She gives in, unable to resist the look.

"Thank you, Lady Rose!" she said as she skips ahead. Astor surprises Rose yet again when he grabs onto one of her hands while waiting her to move forward, like he's her young child. She smiles as Ceclilia grabs her other hand, Rose now having kids seemingly helping her down the hall.

'Rose... Somehow, you've changed after that attack,' Sesshomaru thought to himself as he watches them exit the doors to the gardens. He watches as some soldiers look over their shoulder at her. 'Surprised, I suppose... But I'm not so sure...'

For the whole day, he watches as she let Rin play with her hair in many styles, and mainly sit around and talk with them, making them happy and joyful. A pang of jealousy shot through his nerves, which makes him blink dispite himself.

'Why should this Sesshomaru be jealous of what she's suppose to do, and that is to be with the children?' he thought with a growl. He will have to think on this as he begins to feel something that is coming to him soon...

Um... Yeah, I know it's rather short, but I thought to end it here. I'm planning on moving and stuff like that, sooo yeah, it's gonna be a slow process for a few months XD; Hope ya enjoyed the chappie!!