Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I've put them in. Everything else belongs to somebody else so keep that in mind. Thanks for reading and please review!

To happybum: What I meant was that during her brief return to her time she didn't see Kohaku.

To Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Fan: Can you send me a link to the picture, I accidentally lost it.

Come Into My Web

After the rest of the introductions were finished it was time to pack up and get moving. Mika regretfully picked up Ren again while Dare finally managed to rouse Aiden by throwing water in his best friend's face. Coming awake on a sputter the young man opened his eyes to see Dare and a man who could pass for his double hovering over him. "What the hell...Father?"

"Yeah..uhm..hi." Miroku replied, not sure what else to say as his son shifted into a sitting position. "How's your head?"

Gingerly feeling the back of his head Aiden was pleased to see that other then a slight, dull ache it wasn't that bad. "It's all right. I guess they found you guys and everything all right for the moment." Looking around he grinned slightly as he watched Mika drop Ren back onto the ground to come over to see how he was doing.

"Do you want something for it?" Hermione asked, elbowing Dare out of her way slightly so that she could get a better look at him.

"Looks like Ren needs your attention more." Was his cool reply, ignoring the look of confusion and hurt that passed across her eyes as he got up and brushed past her, walking over to Mika. "Hey, Mika, can you do my back for me? I'll be ready to go then." He added with an apologetic look in Dare's father's direction since he was the one most likely to be pissed off by any sort of delay.

"Sure." Taking Aiden's pack from Dare Mika rummaged through it while Aiden took a seat on a nearby rock and carefully removed him T-shirt, grinching his teeth slightly. It had definitely been sunburned through his shirt and there was going to be hell to pay.

"By the Gods." Miroku breathed, staring at his son's scarred back in acute horror. The skin was red with irritation and was a mass of scar tissue that looked new even though Sora and Kyou had indicated that his son had gotten these wounds as a child. They looked fresh and glaringly painful.

Equally horrified Kagome quickly retrieved her First Aid kit and getting out some painkillers palmed the highest dosage allowed, bringing it over to the boy along with a bottle of water. "You take this." She ordered, already having perfected the no nonsense tone of a mother. Having Kyou around to take care of was wearing off on her.

"Thanks, Aunt Kagome." Not having the heart to tell her that they wouldn't do any good he took them and swallowing them took a hefty swallow of the water before giving it back to her. Sensing Mika behind him he automatically grinched his teeth, giving a slight hiss as her hands, however gentle, connected with his flesh. She had plenty of experience and was doing the best she could but there was no way to do this and not feel in agony. He should know having lived more than a decade with these scars on his back.

"How bad?" Dare wanted to know, studying Aiden's face since he wouldn't put it past his friend to lie. If there was only one thing he could change in his whole life it would be taking Aiden's place under that lash. It should have been him to begin with. But there was nothing he could do but watch over his best friend and try to make things as easy as possible. Which was not an easy task, Dare thought with a sigh.

"I've been better but I can handle it. Where's Sonya?" Aiden asked as he looked around for their tiger but not seeing her anywhere.

"She ran off just before we found these guys. She'll show up as soon as she's done whatever she's doing." Sonya was far from a house cat and it wasn't unusual for her to disappear without warning and appear just as suddenly. Of course they'd never been in the past before but since they were probably going to be stuck here for a while he wasn't worried yet.

"Who's Sonya?" Miroku wanted to know. Last time he'd checked that wasn't a name that had been mentioned yet.

"She's our tiger. More of a friend then a pet though." Aiden explained as he turned his head slightly. "Thanks, Mika. It's already going numb." Standing up he shrugged his shirt back on before taking his pack from her. "Okay, I'm ready to go."

Meanwhile Hermione continued to poke at Ren, alternating between that and looking over at Aiden. Aiden was mad at her. Aiden was never mad at her. What the hell had she done to make Aiden mad, Hermione wondered to herself, not happy at the idea at all. Aiden was her buddy and was one of the most easy going people she knew. It took a lot to get him upset and he was never deliberately mean to people because he had always been picked on because of his female phobia. Had she said or done something he'd taken the wrong way?

"Quit poking me."

Blinking Hermione looked down to see Ren's eyelashes fluttering as the wolf demon struggled to open his eyes. "Hey there, stranger. Rise and shine." She said softly as she helped him into a setting position. "How do you feel?"

"My head is pounding. What the hell hit me?" Ren asked roughly as his fingers gingerly touched the back of his head where they easily found the large lump he didn't recall getting. God but he hadn't had a headache this bad since... Everything coming back to him his eyes narrowed and went blank as they scanned the area around him. Making note of the other people in his vicinity he drew the logical conclusion. "We got to the past I see."

"Do you want something for your headache, Ren?" Hermione asked as she watched him get to his feet, the idiot being too prideful to remain on the ground now that he realized who was here with them.

"No."

"Hey, yay. Now I don't have to carry him." Mika said with a smile as she changed her direction so that she could walk beside Aiden instead now that she didn't need to carry Ren. Good since she got the distinct impression Aiden was in need of some emotional support. Dare might be Aiden's best friend but he wasn't exactly a spill your guts to sort of guy.

"You hit me, didn't you?" Ren demanded to know, turning his head to glare at her. Everything that was wrong in his life could be traced back to her, Ren thought bitterly, wishing the situation was different, wishing everything was different. If she hadn't beaten him all those years ago his father would respect him. It was her fault somehow that he'd had to go on this stupid mission, that he'd had to go through that..that test...oh by the Gods that test. Going pale just remembering it Ren had to use all his pride and stubbornness to remain on his feet. He would not appear weak. Not now and not ever again.

"Just be glad I didn't just cut out your tongue and do the world a favor." Mika shot back, her eyes just daring him to push the matter. "And before you say something stupid remember that you're surrounded by MY family members. Aunt Mina and Hermione might try to protect you but not even they could beat Uncle Sesshoumaru, Kohaku and me."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Daddy, but Aunt Mina is Aunt Mina. She's pretty ass kicking. Uncle Sesshoumaru and I would have to team up on Hermione as it is."

"Are you suggesting that Kohaku could take me on his own?" Mina asked, raising an interested eyebrow. She'd heard the rumors about Sesshoumaru's oldest son but she'd never actually seen anything to back up the allegations. Of course she'd never seen Kohaku lose his temper before which was what had apparently happened in that legendary instance. If you were to believe rumors of course. It was pretty hard to imagine it though.

"I could." Was Kohaku's short statement, completely devoid of pride or boastfullness. He was simply stating facts. "And we should be going. We're wasting sunlight."

"Where are we going anyway?" Miroku wanted to know. "We have no idea where this Ferio creature is and our only link to him is no longer available. Not to mention the fact that that's probably going to be true for a while."

"I sense an extremely strong demonic barrier about a day and a half from here. Could it be him?" Triton commented, not sure if that was going to be of any use or not. He didn't recall ever being this far inland before. As it was he was exhausted thanks to being dried out in that damn thing Kohaku had called a desert. He had a better name for it thought and it was hell.

Doing some quick calculations in his head as to where exactly they were and what he knew of the area Sesshoumaru shook his head. "No, I know who that barrier belongs to. Ferio would avoid it too. Satsuki's hatred of ugly things as well as her connection to me is well known."

"Satsuki...OH NO!" Dare yelped, looking like someone had just told him that Christmas was canceled. "Don't tell me we're near HER house!"

"Her who?" His mother wanted to know.

"Her! SATSUKI! The twisted, dominatrix pin up with serious relationship issues!"

"The men in our family dislike her immensely." Kohaku explained since his brother wasn't doing a very good job of that at all. "Her father was friends with our grandfather and we have upon occasion gone to visit their holdings. Or at least until you forbid father to take us there unless it was an emergency."

"And why did I do that?" Sango wanted to know, knowing even before he answered that she wasn't going to like his answer at all. She wasn't sure exactly what a dominatrix was but it didn't sound good at all.

"I would imagine because she would attempt to seduce them."

Everyone turning to look at Sesshoumaru the demon lord simply shrugged his shoulders slightly. He couldn't say he was really surprised to hear that Satsuki was as bad in the future as she was since the last time he'd seen her. He'd hazard to guess that all four of his sons had been on the receiving end of Satsuki's seduction attempts and was pleased to see that they had apparently judged the demoness correctly. If she'd gotten her claws into any of them he would have known it immediately upon seeing them. Satsuki's victims weren't all that hard to spot, Sesshoumaru thought with inner amusement.

"Seduce isn't the word. That woman needs Doctor Phil. Badly." Aiden said with a grimace, adjusting the straps of his backpack carefully. Thankfully he'd never met the demoness but he'd heard the stories and those had been bad enough. A horrible thought entering into his head Aiden turned to give his dad a hard look. "Don't even think about hitting on her, Father."

"He's not her type." Sesshoumaru pointed out dryly. "Breaking him would be child's play to her."

"Breaking him?" Kouga repeated, not liking the sound of this at all.

"She's a ball breaker, sweetie." Mina explained with a grin as she wrapped her arms around his neck as she smiled up at him. "Apparently her favorite past time is collecting strong, good looking men and then proceeding to break them to the point where they end up as spineless weaklings begging her to take them back. That's why she's been after Sesshoumaru for centuries now. He's the only one she's ever come across that she hasn't been able to make her pet. At least that's what Kagome told me."

"Well that and he dumped her." Kyou added, ever helpful.

"You were courting this monster?" Sango demanded, looking over at Sesshoumaru like he'd grown two heads. How could he have ever been involved with such a terrible person? Then again, how dare he expose their poor, innocent boys to this evil bitch's clutches. Eyes flashing, if looks could kill the demon lord would have no longer been standing upright.

"Not that it's any of your business but I never had any intention of taking her as my mate. Our fathers arranged it and I didn't have a say in the matter." Unfortunately for him his father had spent so much time away from these lands that he'd had no idea just what sort of girl Satsuki had grown into when he'd agreed to Satsuki's father's proposal of alliance. He'd quite happily called it off as soon as his father had passed on to the next world. There were few things he could think of that were worse than being stuck with Satsuki for several centuries. She'd have been a lousy mate and an even worse mother. Then again, given her personality he'd likely have had to kill her for her infidelities before their first month of living together was up.

"You were going to marry her!"

Raising an eyebrow at the expression on the slayer's face Sesshoumaru couldn't quite get why she was so upset about this. It wasn't like he'd wanted to be engaged to the woman. Sango sounded almost...jealous? Could that be why she was upset, Sesshoumaru wondered, studying the slayer a little more closely now. Did she care enough about him already to feel such an emotion? Hoe interesting and unnerving at the same time.

"We're getting off topic again." Kohaku pointed out, trying to nip this argument in the bud. His mother's hatred of Satsuki and vice versa were legendary in his time, especially their fights. The last thing he needed was the headache of his parents arguing about a woman who anyone with any sense would avoid.

"Pathetic, letting some woman break them like that." Ren scoffed to Hermione as they stayed a safe distance from the quarreling couple in case it broke out into a full fledged fight.

"Well most demons know her reputation, they're just stupid and arrogant enough to believe that they'll be the one to put her in her place." Sora explained, shaking her head at Ren. "Why do you think he appeals to her so much? He's one of the most strong, arrogant, and self contained demon I've ever met. Nothing fazes him and no one tells him what to do which is exactly why she's obsessed with him. Breaking him would be the ultimate prize for her, especially since everyone knows she's been trying and failing at it for centuries."

"Well in that case...Andrea, take care of your brother in law, I'll take care of Dare." Sango ordered before sending her future husband a dark look. "You can do whatever you want but if we run into this woman my sons aren't going anywhere near her."

"Uhmmm...if we did run into her...what are we going to say about the fact that there are three of us here who are obviously very closely related to Father?" Dare asked, giving his mother an impromptu hug for going all protective on him. Since he'd been taller than her by the time he was thirteen it had been a while since he'd needed her to be. Then again, he'd take any defense against the infamous Satsuki that he could get.

"Are we going in that direction?" Was the question Shippou thought should be the most important. If they were this was going to be one of the few times he was desperately glad he was still a little kid.

"Actually, we need to be more concerned about the demonic aura coming this way at neck breaking speed." Sesshoumaru pointed out, his oldest son nodding. Everyone turning to face the coming force their faces all portrayed various degrees of surprise, pity and in Sesshoumaru's case resignation.

"Lord Sesshoumaru of the West! I challenge you to a duel to the death!" The demon screamed out, dressed shabbily and looking half starved. There was a wild, almost rabid look in those brown eyes that hinted at near madness as he practically swayed over to them drunkenly. Of course anyone would agree that challenging Lord Sesshoumaru to a fight was a definite sign of madness.

"She's really not worth it." Sesshoumaru tried, knowing even as he said it that it wasn't going to do either of them any good. He'd long since lost track of the number of Satsuki's lovers he'd put out of their misery over the years. Apparently she just loved to tell them that every character flaw in herself was because he had mistreated her and broken her heart when he'd casted her aside. Yeah right.

"You're not worthy to speak her name, you pathetic scum! You broke her heart, destroyed her so that she won't trust the word of any man. No matter how much I tell her I love her, no matter what I do for her she won't believe me. She's casted me aside and it's all your fault!" Pulling his sword from it's sheath everyone noticed that his hand was visibly shaking. From rage or the knowledge that what he was doing was incredibly stupid was unknown.

"You do realize that you're one of hundreds of demons she's slept with and used, right?" Dare piped up, not really wanting his father to kill the poor bastard. Every man got tangled up with a bad woman somewhere along the line. This one had just tangled himself in the web of the Queen Black Widow herself.

"How dare you!"

"Well that is my name, yes." Dare replied somewhat cheekily. He couldn't help it, it always cracked him up when someone said something with his name in it like that.

"You leave my Master alone, you big bully." Rin informed the demon with her hands on her small hips. "He didn't do anything to you or this stupid Satsuki."

"If this is what she does to men I can understand Sesshoumaru hating Father for this alone." Inu yasha commented as they listened to the demon rant about his beautiful Satsuki and how all the terrible things she'd done to him was somehow Sesshoumaru's fault. "If he'd engaged me to someone like her I'd hate him too."

"Let him live, Father." Sora said quietly as she walked up beside him. "He's pathetic and not worth your while. You do..however...require a new arm, don't you?"

"Point taken." Lifting a hand Sesshoumaru had sliced the demon's arm in question off before the demon had time to even realize what was happening. The arm hitting the ground with a soft thud the demon just looked down at it like he'd never seen it before. "Run now and you keep the rest of your limbs and your life."

The demon just standing there dumbly Triton rolled his eyes then using his telekinesis sent the demon flying up into the air and then hurled him several miles away. With any luck the poor bastard would land on something sharp that would end his torment.

Always helpful Rin dashed over and picking up the arm brought it over to her master. Feeling everyone look at her strangely she turned her head, a pout on her adorable face. "What?"