I don't own InuYasha. If I did, I wouldn't have to go to school. All right goes to Rumiko Takahashi.

InuYasha saw how Kouga angrily opened his mouth to bark something at him, but then he stiffened and turned his head to his left, his mouth dropping open. InuYasha frowned in confusion and followed Kouga's gaze until he saw what Kouga was staring at. His own mouth dropped open and he felt how his blood drained from his face.

"Kagome? What the hell?" he exclaimed horrified.

Someone else who was completely horrified was his brother. Sesshomaru sat, stiff as a plank, with a wriggling human girl in his lap. Somehow she had gotten her arms around his neck and landed in his lap without him noticing until it was too late. Now she was clinging to him like a koala.

"What? I haven't gotten a good cuddle in a long while. I want my weekly cuddle, you know?" The female snuggled her head deeper into Sesshomaru's chest, sighing in content. The demon lord stiffened further.

"Get her off of me." He bit out between clenched teeth. His only hand held a firm grip on her upper arm, ignoring the sound of protests from koala-Kagome.

"With pleasure," Kouga snarled alongside his youkai. He took hold under the girl's armpits and dragged her towards him. But she didn't bend. No, quite the opposite; the more Kouga dragged, the more she clung to the demon lord. She had gone so far as to take hold of him with her legs, which embarrassed everyone except herself.

"No! My cuddle! I need my cuddle!"

Sango couldn't resist in that moment; she started to giggle. The giggle soon became an outright roar of laughter, sitting on the ground with her hands clutching her sides as tears started running from her eyes. Miroku was not late to follow, but for a completely different reason it became clear as a slap stopped the struggling koala squad for a moment.

"Houshi-hentai!"

"More wants a cuddle?" Kagome asked cutely, grinning broadly.

The sun was peeking over the horizon, giving a last glance over the land before it would go to sleep. It cast a sleepy eye at the little group in the distance, but paid no further interest in what it saw as it continued to disappear.
Kagome was staring right back at it with such a dreamy expression that no one could imagine how there could ever be anything wrong with her. But from time to time she would mutter to herself, change her expression; angry, happy, laughing, crying. But mostly she had that dreamy expression, where she sat tied to a tree, hands tied at her back.

The little odd group consisting of two humans, three full-blooded demons and the hanyou were currently discussing their current situation with hushed voice, as if they were afraid Kagome would hear them and attempt an escape.

She snorted softly to herself; she may be trained as an assassin but she was also human. Humans couldn't break loose from ropes as easy as demons could. She shook her head sadly before she returned her gaze to the drooping sun, the normal dream displayed on her face.

Let me out! She screamed. Give me my body back!

Kagome could practically feel the girl hammering at her cell's walls, kicking and punching all she could. Kagome smiled; the girl could always try, if she wanted to so badly.

Not yet, she told her with, still the same malicious smile on her face. You've still got work to do.

You mean my body, you disgusting thing! Using my body like this, doing however you please! I'm ashamed! Kagome snorted to herself; what, was the girl her mother? And what was that for?

Hmm?

W-why were you- Sesshomaru, I was- No you was- Sesshomaru-san? Why?

She almost started laughing at the stammering. She should have done this ages ago, when she first took this body. So much fun.

The clinging and the suffix you mean?

Yes!

Kagome got a pondering expression on her face. Frowning she let a feral smile grasp her features.

Because I felt like it.

!

Don't worry so much – it was just some fun~

Fun? That was Sesshomaru! The great dog demon lord, son of InuTaisho! He could have killed me! Us!

But he didn't, and wouldn't you like to know why?

… why?

Good girl. Because he can't.

Why? She sounded confused, and really interested to that. Why can't he? He didn't any problem before when he attempted to do so.

Kagome saw from the corner of her eye as the little fox brat, Shippo, trotted up to her side.

I will chat with you more later. Tudeluu~

Don't touch h-

"Shippo!" She smiled widely at the kit, who stopped in his tracks and nervously stared at her. Kagome let her smile fade to that of a concerned one. Everything for the charade, she thought bitterly. "What's wrong, love?"

He continued to stare at her. Damn, what a piercing green gaze! Had she only been free she would have taken up one of her knives and-

"What is it, Shippo?" she asked instead, attempting to look confused and worried. "Is InuYasha bad again?"

The damned brat continued to stare at her, his eyes a little narrowed in thought. Then he took a deep breath.

"Why do you smell so weird?" he said, loud and clear. Kagome saw how the ears on InuYasha's head twitched in their direction.

She smiled hugely, but toned it down as the kit took a step back. Being a human could be so hard! How had the girl been able to handle it for fifteen years?

"How can I smell weird? I'm me," she said softly. Discreetly she sniffed at herself, and sighed depressingly. "Maybe because I haven't had a decent bath in a very long time?"

"They didn't let you bathe?" The child looked outraged. "Then I will hunt them down and let Mirkou suck them up in his Wind Tunnel!"

She smirked. Not of amusement but out of sarcasm. "Oh, I'm sure you would be able to do that…"

The kit flinched. Kagome cursed herself for her own stupidity; of course Kagome wouldn't use sarcasm when talking to a kid! No, she would be all smiling and gently and soft. Damn, how she hated soft. Reminded her of cat fur; all comfy and cute, if you didn't think about where the cat had been or with what it had cleaned itself with.

"I'm serious, Shippo. I'm sure you would be able to avenge me," she said with a much more gentle tone. She smiled then, not her smile, the one she preferred, but the one Kagome used to have; showing little teeth and only a soft curve of her lips. She knew immediately when the kit relaxed; his shoulders dropped and he seemed to hunch a little more, as if he had just let go of a huge weight from his tiny hands.

"You've been gone so long that I had to take care of things back home!" he said, crossing his arms over his chest with a lecturing look on his face. "Miroku couldn't keep his hands in league even once a day, and when InuYasha came back he was all weak and stuff! You should have seen him; all powerless and bloody! If not for us he would still be lying somewhere in the forest."

Shippo feigned a weak hanyou by staggering in front of her, before falling to the ground. "Help… me…" he coughed, stretching his hand toward Kagome as if he was really begging for her help.

"Shippo."

A dangerous aura enclosed the two of them as InuYasha suddenly appeared behind the kit and grabbed the boy's tail. With a yelp Shippo was hauled up in the air, squirming and kicking at the assaulter, but this only resulted in the little demon to spin around and around, faster and faster.

"What was that about me being weak, brat?" the hanyou asked, malice dripping from his every word.

"Hey, let me down! I'm just a little kid; you can't treat me like this!" The words were brave, if not a little weird as the motion of the spinning muffled his words, but the look on the child's face made Kagome almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

InuYasha seemed to share her opinion. "Oh yeah? What are you gonna do then, huh?"

The kit spun one final time before stopping, coming face to face with the chained Kagome, who had a little smile playing on her lips. Shippo hesitated; this was not his Kagome, his 'kaa-san. But he had to try at least.

"Kagome," he whimpered, big drips of tears rolling over his face. "Help me, 'kaa-san."

Kagome could have laughed there. If she had been herself she would have. This child, this weak creature, was begging her – her – for help. She felt how her eyebrow started to twitch. This weak, pathetic, non-important –

"InuYasha. Sit-"

The audible thud filled the clearing, and Shippo's angry squeals as he bounced off to safety.

"-boy." She ended. After all, if she was Kagome then she must be Kagome. It was also much more fun to tease the adults than the children. She nodded to herself. How could it ever be fun to mock a child that could do nothing to stop her, when by one word she could make this boy, this man, plunge into the dirt, and crawl where the hanyous is supposed to crawl?

"What did you do that for?" the hanyou shouted as he bounced up again, face almost as red as the garments he bore, only telltale splotches of grass and dirt coloring his face.

"Ah~, how I have missed doing that," she sighed with content, as she leaned back against the trees trunk, only to hiss as her arms took all of her weight on them. Damn, what did this girl really eat?

Hey! That's rude!

"Shut up," she said with a smile. Then she froze and slowly let her gaze rise to meet the golden horror of InuYasha. Damn, had she said that out loud?

"Kagome? Who are you talking to?" he asked, his ears slightly turned back.

Hastily she cast a look at the others; thankfully they didn't seem to had heard anything if their argument were anything to tell off. Even though this hanyou's brother did look at them… hmm.

"With you, of course, silly," she said with a slight laugh. "I really don't want to argue right now, you know? Besides, who else would I be talking to?"

He stared at her thoughtfully, which was really astonishing for Kagome – did he really think?, before he lowered his eyes and nodded. "Of course."

Kagome smiled brightly at him, before remembering her being Kagome. She softened it and smiled with her eyes closed at him. There; that should do the trick.

"InuYasha? Could you loosen the ropes a little? Or tie them in front? I can't sit that well, and my wrists are starting to hurt." She had her eyes closed for a while for a second or two before she opened them again, taking in the dumbfounded hanyou. Funny, when did he get such red cheeks?

"InuYasha?"

Her voice brought him out of his trance. What had he been doing until now? He stared at her and saw the kind look in her eyes, the gentle smile – the Kagome he knew and… liked? Yes, liked. His best friend.
He shook his head again and let his gaze wander down her throat to her shoulders. Following the arms he gazed at to where they ended behind her back, ropes tied tightly around her wrists. Damn, that would hurt if you had them on for too long. InuYasha could almost feel his own ropes, tied behind his back before they put a hook into the knot and lifted it, with him dangling from it like a worm on a nail. The sensation of your arms being bended against your will, in the wrong direction…

He reached out for her, the only thought in his head Kagome being hauled up with the same treatment, her scream filling his ears. He would never let anyone do that to her.

Suddenly a clawed hand with strange markings gripped his wrist, all but throwing him back. Startled InuYasha let out an angry growl at the interference.

"Little brother, have you forgotten this wench's earlier escapades?" Sesshomaru stared down his nose at the hanyou.

InuYasha continued to growl warningly. "So? That doesn't mean she can't feel pain!"

Sesshomaru snorted and cast a short, but menacing, glare at the girl in question who seemed all but guilty. For now.

"You would believe this human, even though she has been captured for so long, even though she is not herself, even though she tried to kill me and your wolf companion?"

The younger brother scowled before ripping his hand from his brother's grasp. "Keh, whatever," he spat, casting an apologizing glance at Kagome before jumping off into a nearby tree.

Sesshomaru followed the hanyou with his gaze, before he turned his frosty gaze to the human miko. He could still feel the same electric shocks inside of him, not in his body, but in his soul. Somehow everything seemed to intensify when he was a distance away from the girl; far away he felt almost nothing, which pleased him in many ways. But this close he really could not feel anything.

"I do not know what you have done with this girl," he said frostily. He could see her shiver, from what he was not sure. "But," he continued, "I will find the answer in time."

She watched him stalk of, that long boa of his billowing in the slight breeze. Her heart was thumping, an unsteady beat against her ribcage. Was that her heart or was it Kagome's?

Got to keep an eye on that one, she thought.

I will keep an eye on you, came the non-expected answer.

Shut up.

Would you look at that! Chapter 20, finally! And soon this fanfic is passing the 30 000 words line! 8D

Please review! Love to read what you think about it, and on how you think I can improve!