Disclaimer- Okayy, i don't own inuyasha... :p

Chapter 21

Miroku wasn't any nuisance but I was still pissed at him for killing my ankle. It hurt but the swelling was slowly going down. I figured by the time we found Naraku's hiding place I would be at least able to walk.

We were quiet for the rest of the day. There really wasn't anything to talk about besides the occasional mumble to break the silence. By nightfall we had settled down in a clearing, there weren't any towns nearby.

"Hey Miroku, what do you think Naraku wants with Inuyasha?" I casually asked him.

He flinched at the sound of my voice expecting another lecture, but then realized that I was calm and mystified with his strange reaction.

"I would think it's a trap to lure us to him. For sure he has something up his sleeves." He said in a very serious tone.

I pondered his theory for a moment, it seemed logical. Go figure Naraku was trying to get the last few shards.

"Ok, so should we make a plan or just fall into it."

"Uh, I don't know. Sesshoumaru, what should we do?"

He didn't respond to Miroku.

Miroku shrugged and gave up. Furrowing his thick brows, he fell into thought.

The sky was dark, and the occasional twinkling of the pepper-spayed stars and the rhythmic chirping of the crickets gently lulled me to sleep.

Bright and early the next morning, I woke with a shudder. I had had a nightmare about Inuyasha being tortured. Then a playback of all the sappy moments that we'd had in the past. It was awkward to look back on it being with his brother now. I looked to my left to see a rare sight, sprawled out on the forest floor, an inattentive Sesshoumaru. He looked beautiful in his sleep, the small smirk on his face hinted at a good dream, world domination maybe? He must have felt the two small eyes watching him because he suddenly sat up with a jerk. He had dark circles under his eyes. Obviously he spent most of the night thinking up a plan.

"Hey, mornin'. Get a good nights sleep?" I teased him with a smile.

He stared me down with one of his, I'm going to kill you, looks. Of course, I brushed it off and fixed a stray hair that was wildly pointing in a different direction than the flow of his silvery locks. He sighed. He crossed his legs, folded his arms and closed his eyes. A very Inuyasha like pose. An image of Inuyasha fluttered across my mind, tricking my mind that the being before me was him. I shook my head, causing the false Inuyasha to disappear. Sesshoumaru looked up at me with concern. He sensed my tension.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"Hmph."

He obviously didn't believe me. I smirked. I playfully pushed him. He looked at me like I had just done something crazy. I started to regret it... I had forgotten I was dealing with a demon. He could probably just turn into his gigantic dog form and melt me in his poisonous spit.

'Ah! What have I done!'

I started to panic on the inside. If you could see the inside of my mind, it was on fire, the little towers where the paperwork (memories and knowledge) where stored were crashing down and the sky was blood red.

Apparently my faced must have looked dead shocked because his expression became extremely worried. He reached towards my face to wave me out of my trance.

I saw his sharply clawed fingers coming towards my face. I screamed out of shock and flung my body away from him.

I'm sure I hurt his feelings, because he stood and walked off. I wasn't sure what to feel, sad or relieved? My brain really wasn't working.

"Hey, where's Sesshoumaru?" came Miroku's voice.

I looked up to him with tears of confusion forming in my eyes. Miroku was taken aback.

"Did something happen?"

"I was just playing with him, but I'm not sure if he was gunna kill me or was just playing along. I think I pissed him off." I said pretty monotone.

"Just give him a bit, he'll cool off."

"Maybe, I still feel bad. It's always stupid things."

"What's always stupid things?"

"We always get put off by stupid things. I think most of it's my fault, I just don't fully understand him I guess. I don't know my boundaries."

"Mhmm." He said encouragingly

"I just don't see why we can't be on the same page?"

"Ya, I know that feeling."

I looked sadly down at my feet. I wiggled my toes, my ankle didn't hurt so much.

"You know, we probably don't have much time, and Inuyasha could really be suffering."

Miroku nodded his head.

I looked up, fire in my eyes. I was going to go find Sesshoumaru, or go search for Inuyasha with Miroku. I was standing now. Walking to the tree where Sesshoumaru had passed when he stormed out earlier.

"I'll be back, stay here."

I ran through the thick mass of greenery, catching my shirt on a tree branch that seemed to be reaching out at me. My ankle was holding out, but maybe it was because the adrenaline rush I had was canceling out the pain.

After what seemed to be about ten minutes, I ran out of steam and walked. Soon after that, I found a river. The currents were soft, but the water itself was cold but beautiful. 'Just like Sesshoumaru' I thought. I looked down the river, there he was. I sighed, he was sitting on a rock that hung over the edge of the water. His expression said he was upset. I walked up to him.

"Hey."

He tilted his head in my direction slightly, indicating he was listening.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I was just playing around with you, but then I wasn't sure if it was insulting to you or something so I freaked out. I'm so sorry."

He looked at me. "I see."

The silence was uncomfortable, but I wasn't sure if he had forgiven me.

"So, do you forgive me?"

"Why should I? I scared you, It's my fault, isn't it?"

I smiled up at him and decided it best not to hug him, in fear of the pain of being squished up against his armor.

I climbed onto the rock and sat next to him.

"I love you." I whispered in his ear, and gently turned his face towards mine and kissed his silky lips. One hand on his cheek, the other tangled into his hair.

I pulled back slowly, I didn't really want to, but we couldn't be doing this now, not when we needed to save Inuyasha.

He nipped at my neck, that was new. He obviously didn't want to go, but we had to. I got up and grabbed his hand to drag him back to Miroku.

Inuyasha was more than likely mouthing off at his captors, if we didn't hurry, he'd be dead before we got there.

When we got back to where Miroku was, he wasn't alone. Sango was there too.

"SANGO!!" I squealed with excitement and ran over to her. We hugged and squealed at our reunion. I was thoroughly thrilled to see her.

"Well, we should get moving... if you don't want him to die." Sesshoumaru told us with a cold voice.

"Hey Sesshoumaru, do you think it'd be faster if we flew?"

"Probably. What are they going to do though?"

"Kirara!"

"Whatever. It doesn't matter to me."

"Sango, do you think you and Miroku could ride on Kirara? It'd be the fastest way."

Sango was silent for a minute, but then forcibly seemed to agree.

I was exited. Flying always gave me a rush.

'Just hang on Inuyasha! We're on our way!'

End Chapter(A/N) alrighty! That's one more chapter down! I'm sorry that it's been so slow. I've not forgotten about it, just busy. I'm sure this is my excuse every time but I promise I'm still working on it. I'm not done yet : Thanks for reading, now don't forget to review!!

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