Kagome sat, till the sun was high in the sky and her legs were burning but she would not move. Inuyasha had run out of tears and was now slowly starting to slip into sleep, but just before his eyes closed Kagome heard him whisper once more.

"It's not fair. I loved her."

They had been travelling towards the west now for two days. Surprisingly Inuyasha had not put up a fight when Sesshomaru had suggested that they return to his palace and recuperate. Then again, he had not put up much a fight about anything. He walked ahead of the group with his head down and when the others were tired he jumped up into a tree without saying a word and sat staring at the setting sun as it turned to the moon.

Kagome was worried. She hadn't heard him laugh in the two days at all, even when Miroku's hands wandered and Sango had pushed him over the edge of a steep hill. A small smirk even appeared at the corners of Sesshomaru's lips but Inuyasha merely watched the monks decent before jumping down, locating the monks collar from in amongst the pile of dazed robes that was Miroku and carrying him back up the hill face. Setting him on his feet, Inuyasha turned and continued walking towards the west.

He was walking ahead of them now, ears flat back against his head and eyes cast downwards, occasionally raising his head to look towards the source of a sound from the trees that lined their route or to scent for a demon or animal nearby.

Kagome was walking with Sango and Miroku on one side of her, Kilala sitting on the slayers shoulder, Shippou on the monks and Sesshomaru and Rin on her other.

: Sesshomaru?

:Yes Kagome?

:How much further is it?

Sesshomaru sighed quietly and had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

: About 5 minutes less walk than when you last asked, 10 minutes walk since the time before that.....13 minutes walk since the time before that....

Kagome gave him a glare from under her eyelashes and squeezed the long fingers that were entwined with her own.

: Ok, and how long is that?

: Roughly a days walk from here.

Kagome sighed.

"But it's so far!"

The others looked at the pair before continuing walking. They had grown used to random outbursts from Kagome during one of their silent conversations.

Sesshomaru merely stared at her.

"Well I am sure that the demon slayer and monk would not be adverse to flying there. It will mean we would arrive at the castle by sun-down. It is if we can convince Inuyasha to move at more than a snail's pace."

The hanyou in front obviously heard him as he glanced around and gave Sesshomaru a cold stare before he jumped into the nearby trees and began to run across the branches.

Miroku, Shippou and Sango stopped and waited for Kilala to transform before jumping aboard and setting out to follow him, Ah-Un with Rin astride his saddle keeping pace with the giant fire-neko.

Sesshomaru and Kagome were the last to speed up the pace, Sesshomaru forming his youkai cloud beneath his feet while Kagome stood next to him with her arms around his waist.

Even though the others had had a head start, the tai-youkai and the miko arrived at the Palace of the Moon first. It was a huge building of stone, and as Kagome stared at the masonry work it was clear that it must have taken ages to build.

In history classes she had read about the old Incan tribes of Peru and their incredible stonework skills. They cut large boulders into the exact shape of the ones beside it so that all of them slotted together perfectly with no gaps along the joins and no need for mortar.

The Palace of the Moon was also built like this, though how the technique had been founded here was a mystery to her. Each stone was cut to fit the contours of the one around seamlessly, giving the appearance of a castle carved from one gigantic boulder.

A wall ran around the perimeter of the Palace, a large gate of wood standing proud in the middle. In the centre was carved a howling Inu with a large moon above it. Inscribed along the top where the words: "Welcome Stranger, To The Palace Of The Moon". Kagome guessed that the inscription had been carved there before Sesshomaru had ruled the household.

Four guards stood at each side of the huge gate while more lined the wall, a pair of them every 10 metres or so around the structure. Kagome guessed they were the watchmen, one of them ready to run and report to a higher power should they see anything of interest or threat. She took notice that they were all demons, and from what she could see they were all Inu demons. Most of them had long black hair and sharp black claws, though none of them had marks on their forehead.

: A mark must just be for those of noble blood then. I wonder why Inuyasha doesn't have one.

: The hanyou had a human mother and therefore he did not inherit our fathers mark. He was unworthy of bearing its honour.

As they walked towards the gates the guards on either side bowed to Sesshomaru. They did not however show the same respect to Inuyasha. It appeared they all remembered him from his time living in the Palace and once Sesshomaru and the others had walked through they stepped in front of the gates to block Inuyasha's way. He had been trailing at the back and almost walked straight into the guards as they stood before him.

Looking up he made to walk around them but they held out their swords so he could not pass. Inuyasha growled lowly at them.

"Half-breed. You may not pass. You have been banned from this castle and you may not enter. Go back to the slums where you belong!"

Inuyasha looked ready to fight back but then he did something none of the group that stood watching expected. He backed down, looked beyond the guards to his friends before moving back and turning to leave.

Sesshomaru went to tell the guards that the hanyou was once again permitted to enter the Palace but Kagome got there first.

She stood in the guards faces, a finger poking them in the chest with every other word.

"How dare you speak to him like that! He is allowed to pass and he will be coming in. You have no right! Can't you see we are with Sesshomaru here!"

The guards gasped at her lack of proper title for their lord.

"Inuyasha will be coming in with us and if you want to stop him you will have to go through me!"

The guards raised their swords at her throat.

Kagome merely looked at them as she drew her miko energy to the surface of her body, sparks flying across her skin as she glowed pink, a threatening look in her eyes.

The guards quickly put down their swords.

As Kagome's powers receded under her skin she heard a sound that she had not heard in days. From behind her a low chuckling could be heard, which then turned into a loud laugh. A grin played across her face as she turned to see Inuyasha sitting on the floor, rolling in the dirt as tears streamed down his face from laughing so hard.

The rest of the group joined in laughing with him, the guards also chuckling uneasily until Kagome whipped round and gave them a cold stare, taking a step towards them so they flinched away. This caused the others to laugh even more, Sesshomaru joining in quietly at the back of the group.

When Inuyasha could finally stand up he looked at the priestess in front of him, wiping tears from his eyes.

"You didn't really think that I was going to walk away did you? Feh, foolish wench! I learnt ages ago that leaping that wall isn't hard and the south side is less heavily guarded than the rest of it!"

The others started laughing again while Sesshomaru frowned before calling over a guard from the courtyard within and talking quietly with him.

The young guards eyes widened and he nodded quickly, running off to talk to another group of armed men who sprinted off in the direction of the south facing wall.

: I'm guessing the south wall will now be more heavily guarded?

: You assume correct miko.

Kagome smiled as she looped her arm through Inuyasha's and they walked through the main gate.

Inside the wall the castle was spectacular. The whole place was carpeted with a rich red fabric which seemed woven out of soft fur. Tapestries hung from walls and painted vases stood on podiums in alcoves. Servants hurried everywhere, bundles of cloth, bowls of food or cleaning equipment in their hands, going about their daily chores. They all stopped and bowed when they saw Lord Sesshomaru and his guests before continuing their jobs.

Sesshomaru swept down the corridors, taking lefts and rights through the maze of walkways until all the others where thoroughly lost. All that is except Inuyasha. They came to a halt at the end of the most lavishly decorated corridors they had seen yet. It was lined with doors down each side, but there was a set of huge double doors at the end of the corridor that were carved from a deep red wood. They bore the same inscription and image that the gates did. Kagome recognised them instantly as the doors to Sesshomaru's rooms.

"This is the Royal Wing. While you are staying here you may all reside in one of these rooms. Inuyasha, you may stay in your old room. There have been some changes to accommodate the other Lords and Ladies though I think you will find it acceptable. "

He pointed to the door on the right hand side of the double doors.

He then turned to Sango and motioned for her to follow him. He opened a door half way down the corridor and stood for the slayer to enter first.

"Slayer, this will be your room. This Sesshomaru hopes it is suitable."

Kagome grinned at him. He was making the effort to be the gracious host and surprisingly was pulling it off.

Sango stepped into the room and gasped. A four poster bed sat against the middle of one of the walls, white sheets covering it. A reed door onto a balcony stood to the left of the bed, giving a view of the gardens below and the rolling fields beyond the walls. A large komode stood against the remaining wall.

"It is more than acceptable Sesshomaru. It is beautiful. Thank you so much. "

Sesshomaru nodded and walked out of the room, opening a door opposite Sango's. This room was the mirror image to Sango's though the sheets here had been dyed blue.

"This will be your room monk. This Sesshomaru suggests that you do not stray from it in the night and remember which is yours. The slayer would be most unhappy should you try to slip into her bed."

Sango blushed lightly and Miroku tried to look shocked at such an assumption, but he was unable to hold back the grin.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama. It is very generous of you. "

Sesshomaru then walked out and placed a palm on the door to the right of his room.

"Kagome this will be your room."

He did not open the door but instead walked to two doorways half way down the corridor.

"Behind these to doors there are two hot springs. This one is the females, this is the males. Once again monk, do not mix the two."

"This Sesshomaru will now retire to my room and sort out some business that needs my attention. Should you wish to look around you may do so, simply ask a servant and they will direct you to where you wish to go. Dinner is at sun down in the dining hall and breakfast at sun up."

With that he turned on his heel and walked away into his room after nodding to the group. They stood there for a few seconds before they all ran to their rooms to look around.

Kagome walked into hers to find Sesshomaru leaning on her bed.

"But...how did you get in here? You went into your room!"

"Kagome this room is reserved for the Lady of the West, though you may stay here while we are here. This means that there is a door between your room and my own, and a shared hot springs through that door there."

He pointed to two doors along the right hand wall.

Kagome's eyes travelled the room and she took in the details. The bed was larger than Sango and Miroku's. With silken silver sheets and a silver canopy. There was a large wardrobe against one wall and a komode like the others had. A balcony ran the full length of one wall and appeared to continue round the corner. She stepped out onto it and walked its length only to find that it did indeed continue round to join up with the large one which ran the length of Sesshomaru's' room .

Kagome walked back into her room to see Sesshomaru still sitting on her bed watching her movements. She walked up to him and stood before him, a wide grin on her face.

"Thank you Sesshomaru. It is beautiful. It all is. And thank you for giving my friends such nice rooms as well."

Sesshomaru smirked up at her.

"This Sesshomaru must be truthful. He was hoping that if he was as courteous as he was to your friends that maybe he would get a reward?"

An evil smile played across Kagome's lips as she placed a finger to her pout and seemed to be thinking.

"Now what could this Kagome give to him as a reward?"

Sesshomaru growled playfully and picked her up from where she stood, laying her down on the bed next to him before kissing her passionately.

"That will do as a reward quite nicely!"

Right guys, I hope you all liked it. There will be more hopefully before the end of next week. Please review to let me know how many of you are still out there and reading this story. If I don't get may replies then I will assume you have all lost interest and so may start another story and put his one officially on hiatus for a while. Let me know if you have forgiven me for the long wait.

Love as always

Inufairiegirl

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