Azya jumped into the well, the weight of a naginata across her back as she wore a pair of deep blue hamakas tucked into angle boots and a deep blue haori, the right sleeve not going past her shoulder while the left went to her wrist. Her two-toned hair was pulled back into a single braid, the silver already reaching her collarbone. There was an envelope inside her haori with some kind of offering to Totosai if he agreed to make her a weapon, but Sesshomaru had given her the naginata before she left the castle that morning.

Entering polluted future, she climbed out of the well and headed over to the house and knocked on the door. Kagome had told her many times that she could just walk in and even told her where the spare key was, but she never wanted to give Mrs. Higurashi false hope that it was her daughter. The door opened and she saw Souta, who immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house.

"Oh, Azya, you still won't just let yourself in?" Mrs. Higurashi frowned as she came into view, a towel in her hands.

"I don't mind announcing my presence, Mrs. Higurashi," Azya smiled, as she slid off her boots and rested the naginata by the coat rack.

"You know that you can call me mom, I care for you just like Kagome."

"Wouldn't it be weird…?" Azya frowned, surprised by how forward she was.

"Not at all, dear," she smiled back as she came over and hugged her. "You seem to be doing well. How are your travels with Inuyasha's brother?"

"It's great," Azya smiled. "I gotta make a call, sorry."

"Take your time, I'll make you a couple meals since it seems that you won't be staying long," Mrs. Higurashi spoke before disappearing.

"Talk about motherly," she grinned at Souta who smiled back before heading up to Kagome's room and grabbed the phone to dial Zachery."

'Hello?'

"Hey lazy ass, you get the time off?" Azya spoke as she sat at the desk.

'Sure did, just finished packing. I'll ride my bike over so we don't intrude on Mrs. Higurashi.'

"She is insisting that I call her mom now. Now hurry up, I have an errand to run before we get to the castle."

'Yes, mother,' Zachery mocked with a laugh before handing up.

"Idiot," Azya snorted as she put the phone back and headed back down to the living room and walked into the kitchen. "Hey mama, I am taking my friend on a trip through the well. Is it okay if we store his bike here?"

"Of course," Mrs. Higurashi smiled as she started preparing four different bento boxes.

"You must go through so many bento boxes between Kagome and I," Azya frowned as she sat at the island.

"I enjoy making them. At least I'll know that they eat well every now and then. How about you?"

"Sesshomaru hunts for fresh meat almost every night when we're traveling but we always carry a small supply of dried meat when he doesn't. The girl I have adopted is always good at catching fish or finding fruits and vegetables so I eat very well."

"That's good to hear. So how is the cruel daiyoukai treating you?"

"He's not cruel at all. He's good at composing himself and always seems calm so it rubs off on Inuyasha wrong. He actually asked me to marry him."

"Really?! Kagome and Inuyasha always tell me that he hates humans…"

"If they are in his way, yeah but he treats everyone with respect unless they don't deserve it. Inuyasha is his half-brother so it's much different," Azya smiled with a shrug as there was a knock on the door.

"I got it!" Souta called before running to the door. "Zach! How are you?"

"Hey little man," she heard Zachery say before he entered the room, a bag on his back. "Damn, you look like your going into battle…"

"Still an idiot," Azya grinned as she got up and hugged him.

"Don't forget to take the bento boxes, Azya," Mrs. Higurashi smiled as she came into the living room, the four boxes in a bag.

"Thanks mama," Zach smiled as he took the bag as Azya slid her boots on and grabbed her naginata.

"Be safe, you two."

"We will," Azya and Zach called as they left the house.

"Anything else you need?"

"Let's go, Azzie," Zach grinned as he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the well house.

Azya tightened her grip on his hand and jumped into the well without hesitation, pulling him with her. She glanced at her best friend as the purple lights surrounded them and watched the amazement on his face before they landed at the bottom of the well in the past. Letting go of his hand and grabbing the bag of bento boxes, she climbed the vines easily and saw Ah-Un get to his feet.

"Hey handsome, hope you got a good nap in," Azya smiled at the two-headed beast as he lumbered over to her and both heads nuzzled her neck.

"We are really here…" Zach gasped as he sat on the lip of the well and stared at the dragon beside her.

"Zach, meet Ah-Un. Ah-Un, this is my friend, Zach," Azya smiled as she reached forward and pulled Zach to his feet and closer to the dragon. "He prefers his greens over meat, he won't bite."

"It's a dragon, give me a minute…" Zach spoke hesitantly and Azya smiled before working on tucking the bento boxes into one of the bags before grabbing Zach's bag and tucked it into one of the empty saddle bags. Azya jumped up onto the saddle and secured the straps of the naginata so that it wouldn't move and waited as Zach slowly brought his hand up to touch the scales of his side. "Wow…"

"Come on, Zach," Azya grinned. "If we don't arrive at the castle in one week, Sesshomaru is going to hunt us down and I don't know how far away Totosai lives."

"Pushy," Zach chuckled before taking her hand and climbed up onto the saddle behind her awkwardly, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Don't let me fall."

"I won't. Alright Ah-Un, time to go to Totosai's home," Azya spoke, nudging the dragon's side, making him jump into the air.

"The air really is so clean here. This view is amazing…"

"Better than an airplane?"

"Absolutely!" Zach grinned, relaxing behind her.

Ah-Un roared happily as they flew higher, the midday sun warm on their skin. Azya grinned, letting Ah-Un guide the way as they headed south. They flew the whole afternoon and when the sun started, Azya directed Ah-Un to a hot spring for the night.

"Ahh, this is the life," Zach moaned as he sunk into the water of the hot spring and Azya smirked at him as she relaxed against a rock, her naginata within reach.

"Bet you haven't used any of your vacation time since you started working there. Did they cry when you asked for time off?" Azya asked.

"Pretty sure Damian was close. Another year working with him, I might actually turn him gay," Zach snorted and Azya shook her head. "You have new scars on your back…"

"I was stupid, decided to use a staff that produced fire on a wooden bridge. Guess I was unconscious for three days with Rin taking care of me while Sesshomaru was hunting down an enemy. The mark increases my healing slightly so it had started scaring when he finally added his blood to the wounds last week."

"So the scars were the outer edges? Damn Azya, you need to be more careful. That mark can only protect you so much."

"That's why we are taking this side trip. There is a blacksmith that hopefully will commission a weapon for me."

"Hopefully?"

"He's not a big fan of Sesshomaru. The minute he senses his presence, he'll make a run for it," Azya chuckled. "Otherwise he would have been doing this trip while I had taken you to the castle."

"Gotcha. Boyfriend is big, bad, and scary…"

"You already know this," Azya shook her head as she stepped out of the water and dried off before dressing.

"What happened to Keisuke?"

"He's still alive for now. I honestly haven't dealt with him yet, he's been treated fairly in the dungeon from what I hear."

"He's been in the dungeon for two months and you haven't even checked on him yet?"

"He's lucky that's all I'm doing right now," Azya huffed as she picked up her naginata and sat against a tree.

"You women are scary," Zach chuckled as he got out and dressed before sitting beside her.

"I know," she grinned, opening the bag of bento boxes and handed him one before grabbing one for her. "Eat up, the night is warm so I would like to continue traveling. I don't feel comfortable setting up camp. I haven't been through this area before, I don't know what kind of Youkai live around here."

"Should I have brought a gun?"

"I can feel the energies of Youkai and there isn't any within 50 yards of us," Azya spoke simply as she ate.

"But there are some nearby…?"

"A group of four are west of us and two are north."

"Amazing," Zach grinned as he shoved food into his mouth. "My friend has superpowers…"

"You are an idiot and a nerd," Azya snorted as she finished her food and got up to saddle Ah-Un. "I just was trained in using my senses when I couldn't see."

"I know," Zach smiled as he handed her the bag of bentos and climbed onto the dragon once she tightened the last strap.

"Alright Ah-Un, I owe you a feast when we return to the castle," Azya smiled as she nuzzled the two heads before strapping her naginata onto her back and jumped up in front of Zach as Ah-Un lifted off the ground.