A small chapter, but I wanted to give you guys a little something. Enjoy! Again, I own nothing unfortunately.

Chapter 35: Demon Lord

I honestly couldn't believe it. Although Shippo had mentioned that he had traveled to the U.S with him so long ago, meeting again with the Demon Lord never came across my mind. But seeing him now, tall, proud, and probably powerful, was making me feel numb. He was still the same as I remembered. Possibly slightly aged, but not by much. His hair was tied up in a high pony tail, strangely resembling his father. The markings were gone, probably under an illusion. Long gone was his white kimono and armor. However, those terrifying golden eyes were still there. Cold like a winter night, completely lacking the warmth that Inuyasha's held. He looked so human in a blue button up shirt with the sleeves and dirty dark jeans with boots. And on his belt… Oh Kami…

And as he bored his gaze onto mine, he wasn't happy to see me. Because Tenseiga was strapped on his freaking belt.

"Who did you just kill?"

Oh. I had forgotten the others were here. And ah! I had told them Sesshomaru was extremely dangerous from my stories. Just perfect.

His golden eyes traveled to meet Rick's face, "Bunch of humans that were ready to kill all of you. They had captive an injured man," he pointed behind a tree not too far off, "He's currently there."

I turned just to see Sasha and Tyreese hurrying off towards the direction Sesshomaru had pointed.

"What's going on?" I heard Father Gabriel nervously ask.

I could just feel the tension, because those that knew my story, were worried if Sesshomaru was a threat or not. Shippo seemed so relax, which clearly meant Sesshomaru wasn't going to do anything. Inuyasha however, I could feel the displease rolling off of him.

"How the hell did you find us?"

Sesshomaru raised a delicate eyebrow. How can he still look so… aristocrat like?

"Well," he drawled like if he was talking to a child, "I found a destroyed prison that had your stench all over it. My surprise to see my sword laying on the floor like a mere stick," I swallowed carefully at that, "I tried following your stench until I lost it. I found a car with a cross and started to follow it, thinking it would leave me to you until Tenseiga started pulsing, leading me here. That's when I smelt her scent."

"Where the hell did you see the car?" Inuyasha instantly snarled. Sesshomaru stared at him and with a careful finger he pointed at the direction. Inuyasha took off without saying another word.

I'm going to sit him sensessly for leaving me with Sesshomaru of all people.

"H-How d-did he just run so f-fast?" Gabriel stuttered in fear. I sighed heavily.

However, before I could even say anything, Sesshomaru was in front of me in a flash. My eyes widened and he grabbed me by my throat. I could hear everyone yelling at him and I could hear the guns getting cocked. I felt his grip tighten and he threw me away. I landed on the floor with a grunt and rolled on the ground. I was breathing heavily as he approached me while bringing Tenseiga out.

"Leave her alone!" I heard Daryl yell out as I saw him raise his crossbow from behind Sesshomaru. I saw Shippo raise his hands and beg them, "Do not fire! He's not going to kill her! Do not fire!"

"The hell?" Abraham said, "This damn freak of nature is going towards her with a sword!"

"Tenseiga can't kill," Shippo snarled at him, "You're going to get yourself killed if you interfere."

He turned to look at Daryl, "Trust me. He's not going to kill her."

Slowly but surely, he hesitantly brought the crossbow down.

I raised my head as Sesshomaru glared down at me, "I'm sorry for leaving Tenseiga behind."

He scoffed, "Sorry doesn't even cover it miko. I fail to understand why you would leave such a sword behind like if it was worthless. You should know the power it possess."

I bowed my head in shame, "I know…"

"Raise your head. That pathetic look doesn't suit you."

I did as he said, when he suddenly threw Tenseiga at me, the sword almost landing on my lap.

"I do not understand why that wretched sword wants you, but it called you. Another reason why I even found it."

I shook my head, "I don't think I can bring myself to use it…"

His glare intensified, "Why not?"

I pulled down the collar of my shirt and showed him the sutra. I saw his eyes slightly widening and then returned to their usual look, "So, are you going to beg me to remove it?"

"No," I immediately said, "I would never beg you to do something for me."

He stayed quiet for so long, I couldn't even understand how it was possible to look almost like a statue.

"Take the sword. I refuse to repeat myself for a third time."

I did as I was told. I grasped the hilt and I could practically feel the warmth of the sword. It was like it was happy to be with me again. I got up and dusted myself and looked at him, "Are you going to join us?"

I sounded so casual when I asked. Like if I had completely forgotten that he had choked me and tossed me to the ground like a rag doll.

As he opened his mouth, I saw Glenn practically jump at my question, "Woah, hold up Kagome. You're inviting him to join us? Didn't you say he tried to kill you in the past?"

I could feel Sesshomaru staring at me as I replied, "More than I can count… yes."

"He's dangerous then!"

Shippo cleared his throat, "He practically just saved us. I can smell Garreth from here."

Sasha then came out of the church, since her and Tyreese had immediately taken Bob there. Her face in complete distraught, "B-Bob was bit…"

The group immediately divided into two groups. Carol, Maggie, Glenn, Michonne, and Father Gabriel went inside the church with her and Tyreese. Daryl, Rick, Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Sophia, Carl, and Shippo stayed behind with me and Sesshomaru.

They asked so many questions to Sesshomaru, but the demon only replied to those questions that he didn't find foolish. The trio asked me about Tenseiga immediately when suddenly, Rosita's eye's lit up.

"Can't you save Bob?"

I looked down at the sword that was now back on my hip, "I could try. But Tenseiga picks who."

"You've never saved anyone?" Abraham asked. I could hear he was skeptical about the sword. He had believed the whole demon thing since that was easier to prove, but the powers of the sword were still hard for them to believe.

"No… the only one that so far the sword has called on was Andrea…"

I could feel Daryl and Rick staring at me and I looked at them apologetically, "She didn't want to come back remember? I couldn't do that to her. Bring her back against her will."

"Why did my brother leave so suddenly?" Sesshomaru then asked. That left me confused as well. I was expecting a fight to break out between the two, but Inuyasha had taken off.

"um," Sophia said quietly, "The car that took Beth, it was black with a cross."

"He probably went to track them," Daryl said with a thoughtful look on his face.

Sesshomaru snorted and rolled his eyes. I looked at him confused and he raised his eyebrow at me, "Surprised you're not in tears since he just left to look for another woman."

"You know," I said rather loud as I looked at him in annoyance, "I kind of miss you not talking back in the day. Can we go back to that?"

I felt Daryl getting closer to me and putting a hand on my shoulder. I sighed as I tried to calm my nerves. I saw the way Sesshomaru was looking at us and I glared, "Don't even think about commenting. You already choked me, I don't need your comments."

He snorted, "Your temper never fails to surprise me. However, it is worse than when you were child."

I was about to retort regarding the child comment but Daryl had quickly cut in.

"So what do we do Rick? Stay until Inuyasha comes back?" Daryl asked from my side.

I could see the debate on Rick's face but Abraham interrupted, "I'm sorry, but I can't wait for dog-boy to show up. Who knows how far that car is traveling. I fixed the bus and I need to get Eugene to Washington already. I'm taking off first thing in the morning with him and Rosita and I'm taking anyone else that wants to come with."

The rest of the night continued on. I had gone to check on Bob and I almost puked the moment I saw him. Garreth and his group had cut off his leg. He then showed me his bite, which had happened during the food run and he had begged Shippo and Inuyasha to not say anything about it. Specially Shippo who had been there. That would explain their behavior.

I tried to sleep but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I was worried for Inuyasha. He had taken off by himself and who knows how far he had gone. Yes he was fast, yes he had strength, but I couldn't help but worry.

I went and sat down on the steps of the church, carefully avoiding the spikes that we had put during the day. I lifted my head the moment I saw Sesshomaru coming to sit next to me. Not soon after, Shippo joined us as well.

"To answer your question from earlier," I heard Sesshomaru say in his cool stoic voice, "I will stay with your group. I have been traveling for months alone that I think is time for me to be social again."

I raised my eyebrow, "I never took you as the person that enjoyed companionship."

I saw him rolling his eyes at me, "I did travel with Rin and the toad."

At the mention of the small girl, my eyes softened as the memory of her death came to my head.

"Tenseiga showed you I take it?"

I looked up and gave him a slight look of pity and guilt, "Yeah… it was when I first grabbed it that it showed me… I am so sorry. She was an amazing little girl."

And for the first time, I saw the wall of cold crumbling on his face. He looked younger as I could see the memories of Rin flashing in his eyes. For a moment they held warmth. She was the only one that ever got a look like that out of him.

"Are you going to Washington?" He then asked.

I shook my head immediately, "I can't leave your brother. And no, before you pry," I quickly said the moment I saw him opening his mouth, "It's not like that. Even after finding out the truth that we were deceived, it's not like that and it never could be."

"Because you've found another."

I smiled softly, "Exactly. However, Inuyasha is still extremely important to me."

I looked at Shippo who had been quiet the whole time, "Are you leaving or staying?"

He snorted quietly, "One, there's no way in hell I'm leaving you. Two, I ain't going anywhere with that liar."

My eyes widened, "What?"

He finally walked up the steps and sat next to me. His face was serious and his emerald eyes were thoughtful, "Whenever Washington is brought up, his heart beat increases and he starts to sweat. He avoids eye contact. It's very minimal for anyone to notice, but Inuyasha was the first one to bring it up after we got out of Terminus. He's lying."

"Shouldn't we tell them something?" I whispered to him. Abraham and Rosita had lost people trying to get Eugene to the capitol, and all this time he was lying? It was beyond ridiculous.

"Let them figure it out," Sesshomaru suggested, "They can't be relying on the kit's nose and the half-breed's to fix their problems. You humans have to overcome your own issues."

"Ok, now you're sounding like your old self," I said with a small laugh.

And with that, I got up and tried to get some sleep. I found Daryl at our spot and I immediately curled on his back. He instantly woke up as he easily turned around to face me and pulled me close to him. I felt his lips on my forehead and my heart clenched.

"He's exactly what you described him as. A dickhead popsicle."

I giggled softly. Then I felt his fingers tracing my neck carefully. He could probably see already the developing bruises thanks to Sesshomaru.

"Does it hurt?"

The softness of his voice made me smile, "It's ok. I'm fine. I had that coming honestly."

He then leaned down and captured my lips softly with his. He was being so gentle and loving, something I had missed ever since we left the prison. This was the Daryl that i fell in love with. Probably right now was the best time for me to tell him.

"Daryl?"

His blue eyes lazily stared into mine, a small smirk on his face as he looked at me, "Yeah?"

"I love you."

I saw the way his eyes lit up, ever so slightly. He pulled me even closer and kissed my neck, "And I you."

I'm such a coward.

The following morning was filled with horrible goodbyes. The time was coming for Bob and all of us felt horribly for Sasha. The poor woman hadn't stopped crying. Father Gabriel kept himself at a good distance from me, Shippo, and Sesshomaru. My guess is that someone told him the truth about them and the man wanted to be as far as possible from us. I stayed in the room with Sasha as the others left and looked at her and Bob.

"I can't say that it's a guarantee that I can bring you back," I said carefully, "Tenseiga is a sword that has a mind of its own and it chooses who it wants to save."

Bob slowly nodded his head as his eyes were dropping, "I get it."

"Do… do I have to stab his head once he passes?" Sasha asked quietly.

I nodded my head, "Yes. It'll prevent the transition from happening. I could try then."

The door opened and both Sesshomaru and Tyreese walked in. My eyes widened when I saw the demon coming up to me, "What is it?"

"You've never revived anyone miko—"

"Kagome."

"I'm going to tell you what to look for."

Sasha turned to Tyreese, "What are you doing here?"

He smiled at her, "I can't let you be the one to do it. If she can't bring him back, I don't want you to have in your head that you're the one that made it permanent."

She gratefully smiled at her brother through her tears.

And so we waited. I saw the way Bob's chest rose up and down slowly until it was finally still. I heard Sasha containing her choking sob and Tyreese moved slowly as he stabbed Bob on the head. I slightly jumped as Sesshomaru started speaking to me in a low whisper by my ear.

"Grab the sword and point it at him. Focus your aura. Do you see the underworld creatures?"

I took deep breaths as I focused and did as he was telling me. However, nothing was appearing. I shook my head, "There's nothing."

"Try again."

And I did it again, but I wasn't seeing anything or getting a reaction out of Tenseiga. I saw his arm reaching over me and grabbed my hand with his own clawed hand. I turned my head to look at him, his expression focused as he stared intensely at Bob's body.

After several tense seconds, he let go of my hand and took a step back. As I turned around to look at him, he shook his head. I turned back to Sasha, "I'm so sorry."

The woman cried as she got up from her chair and went over to Bob, putting half of her body over his and started to sob.

We left them to give them privacy. It was too heartbreaking to see. I looked at everyone and sadly looked at them, "It didn't work."

Abraham snorted as he looked at Rosita, "I told you it was a load of bullshit."

"It isn't," I strongly said, "The sword picks. There's nothing I can do change that. Neither can its former master. We both tried."

"Whatever. I'm done here. Rosita, Eugene, we are out of here. Anyone else that is done with all of this fairy tale bullshit and myths and wants to face reality, come with me."

My eyes widened the moment I saw Maggie and Glenn follow him, "You're leaving?"

"Woah hold on," Rick said as he got in front of them, "Why are you leaving?"

"Like Abraham said," Maggie started to say, "It's time to face reality."

And with that, the group started to walk outside. I followed them quickly, "Maggie—Inuyasha left to look for your sister! Isn't that reality?"

She whirled around and her green eyes were angry and holding back tears, "The reality is that she's most likely not alive! Look at all the people we have come across to Kagome. Vicious killers. Every single one of them. Look how long it's been. I have to face reality that she's gone."

Glenn wouldn't even look at us as he boarded the bus. I felt numb, seeing them walk away like that. However, what shocked me the most was seeing Carol pulling Sophia and dragging her to the bus.

"Mom! I don't want to leave!"

"Sophia, enough! This is the chance we've been waiting for. We can't stay here. Eugene is what we needed, a shot at life. A shot for this nightmare to be over."

I whirled around to look at both demons, but neither of them were saying anything.

"Eugene is lying," I yelled out, "He's lying. He doesn't know how to stop it."

Abraham stomped over to me, trying to use his large form to intimidate me, "How do you know?"

I held his gaze, "Demons can sense when someone is lying. He is."

He snorted, "Like I'm going to believe another one of your bullshit things. You said the sword would bring back Bob, it didn't. Now you want me to believe they know when somebody is lying? Please. I'm done here."

He then reached into his pocket and tossed the map at Rick, "In case you change your mind."

I helplessly saw Sophia screaming and crying as the doors of the bus were then closed by Abraham. My heart broke since she didn't want to go. She kept screaming that Beth was alive and that Inuyasha would save her, but her cries were falling on deaf ears, except for mine.

And just like that, almost half of our group left.

Most of the morning after they left was agonizing. I was in an internal rage for seeing Maggie give up so easily and not believe in her own sister's possibility of survival. Shippo had immediately helped Tyreese to build a grave for Bob and Michonne had been with Sasha and Sango all day. Carl refused to speak to anyone since Sophia was gone. The whole situation brought a sense of broken family within the group.

Daryl didn't even want to talk about it. He was mad. All he had said to me was, "You don't turn your back on family." And he left it at that.

It wasn't until it was almost noon, that Inuyasha returned with the news that Beth was in fact, alive, but not by himself.

He had brought back a skinny, tall, African American young man who was severely limping. He told us everything. How cops from Atlanta ran the hospital and had set a format. Anyone that came in, had to pay their way out. He told us exactly how he had met Beth. He knew the entire layout of the hospital and he was willing to help us to bring Beth back since she had helped him escape.

Sesshomaru had raised his eyebrow at his brother, "Surprised you didn't go in there and killed everyone to get the girl."

Inuyasha glared at him, "I would've if I had my own sword. Bastard."

We were thankful that Father Gabriel provided us with a well kept map of the city, giving us the opportunity to start figuring out our way in and how to get her. The city was indeed, tricky. It was incredibly big and just thinking of the amount of walkers that resided there was already giving me a headache.

"I need to know who's going," Rick said as he laid both hands on the table where the map laid. Inuyasha was the first one to raise his hand, followed by me, Shippo, Daryl, Tyreese, Sasha, and surprisingly Sesshomaru. I turned to the woman, "You don't have to."

She shook her head, "I do. Beth was extremely kind to me when we first got to the prison. I want to be there for her."

Rick thoughtfully looked at the group, "Honestly, I need one demon to stay behind. In case things get complicated here, the church would be defended and keep the rest safe."

"Alright," Shippo said, "I will. It's already overkill with Sesshomaru tagging along anyways."

Tyreese looked at the tall silver haired demon, "Are you seriously that powerful?"

Sesshomaru very lightly smirked and Inuyasha growled, "Do not start showing off."

"Afraid I'll put your own speed and strength to shame?"

"Shove a fucking sock up your mouth."

Rick immediately turned to look at me, "Are you sure bringing both siblings is a good idea?"

I thought back at how horribly it had been during the whole Sounga incident and the constant fighting between the two.

"Yes."