Hope you guys like it. By the way, I'm loving the feedback! It means so much to me. I did get a question about the chapter lengths, and I want to say that they average around 500-700 words each. I will have a few longer ones as well as a few short ones. But to answer the question, yeah the chapters are all going to be right around that length. It's just how I've decided to write this particular story. Anywho, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters.

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Chapter 29 - Welcome

Silence greeted Sesshomaru when he finally came upon the inutachi. He wondered at first if they had already settled for the night, but when entering their clearing, he instead found them just sitting there. Inuyasha sat perched in a tree, and was gazing off into the distance. The taijiya was half-heartedly cooking dinner, while the houshi used a crisply burnt stick to poke the tinder of the fire. The kitsune fiddled a bit with his toys next to the fire neko who simply watched everyone else in the clearing with a calculating gaze. He was most surprised by the position the miko was in. He had expected her to greet him with her usual, infuriating cheerfulness. Instead, she sat leaning up against a tree with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring at the fired with an indeterminable look in her eyes.

It was unnerving to see the normally lively group so subdued. Had his impending arrival actually caused this? Odd. He figured there would have been more yelling involved.

A tug on his pants brought his attention away from the quiet group. "Sesshomaru-sama? Why aren't they talking? It's scary." Rin spoke with a nervousness in her aura.

"Hn." He looked to the miko again, and noticed this time that there were bandages peeking out from the collar of her shirt. Taking a quick sniff of the air, he took note that not only was the smell of her blood present, so was the smell of her purification powers. He looked over at Inuyasha again as his brain began to make the connections. The hanyou also had bandages, but his were placed over his chest, and his open haori showed signs of being singed – likely by the miko's reiki. Ah, the hanyou had done something foolish. So predictable.

Deciding he'd had enough of being ignored, Sesshomaru flared his youkai to get the miko's attention. The result was almost laughable. Most members of the inutachi had been so zoned out that when he flared his aura, it had startled them – greatly. The hanyou fell out of the tree, the monk threw his stick, the taijiya for some reason slapped the monk, and the kitsune disappeared with a 'pop'. Only the miko and the neko remained relatively unchanged. The neko merely glanced in his direction, seemingly already aware of his presence. The miko however, did not move at all. She only tensed and gripped her legs more tightly, the strain becoming evident when her knuckles whitened.

He wondered why she would react to his presence that way when just yesterday she had seemed so relaxed, cocky even. However, he didn't have to wait long to find out. Inuyasha sprung up from the ground and began stalking his way towards him. He felt Rin retreat behind him to stand with Ah-Un and Jaken, fear taking place of the earlier nervousness.

He placed his hand on Tōkijin, preparing to protect Rin and defend himself should he need to. But before the hanyou could reach him, a pink barrier appeared in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

Inuyasha snarled fiercely before turning to yell at Kagome. "Put the barrier down, bitch."

Kagome didn't even bother looking away from the fire to respond. "Why, so you can get beaten to a pulp again? That is what happened the last time you two fought, ne?"

Now Inuyasha took a threatening step towards her, and Sesshomaru wondered what she would do. She still hadn't moved an inch, despite all that was happening around her.

"One more step, Inuyasha, and we will have a repeat of what happened this morning."

"Ha, that only worked because I wasn't expecting it. I'm stronger than you, wench, and you know it."

"Physically, yes, you are stronger than me. But I don't need to move a muscle to kick your ass."

In the blink of an eye, Inuyasha had lunged for her, aiming once again for her neck. But this time, he ran face first into another one of her barriers. Sesshomaru watched with something close to awe as the energy of her barrier changed form and wrapped itself around Inuyasha like a rope. In a few seconds, he was wrapped secure enough to be incapacitated. This left the hanyou spitting and cursing, struggling to free himself from the reiki bonds. As the cursing became more intense, another tendril of energy wrapped itself around his mouth.

He felt a rise in the hanyou's youkai, and watched with concealed interest as his beast emerged. He had seen his beast emerge in other battles, but never had he seen it emerge in a fight with the miko. Normally the fool was fiercely protective of her. Clearly something had changed.

The power boost granted by his beast allowed him to break free of the bindings, and he rush forward again to attack. At this, the miko finally stood. Oddly enough, she ran forward to meet the hanyou in his rush, but right before they met she stooped low and shot a leg out, tripping him. He fell forward into the dirt, and before he could rise again, the miko delivered a reiki-infused blow to the back of his head instantly knocking him out.

Huffing, Kagome stood once more and made her way over to Sesshomaru. She offered a quick bow and spoke with painfully fake cheerfulness, "Welcome to the group Sesshomaru-sama." Then she turned around and walked out of the clearing. He assumed she needed alone time. After watching what had just occurred, and knowing it was at least the second confrontation of the day, he didn't blame her.