Disclaimer: Not even karma could make these characters belong to me - however Kagome's current appearance is my invention.

A note: You are very very very lucky I found this and the next 3 chapters. I accidentally tipped a bowl (not a cup a full on bowl) of tea over my university laptop and this could have all been lost if it wasn't for the fact that I am maniacal about backing up daily and my setup includes being able to back track and find lost files.

I have most of the next chapter - I'm still not certain about this but it's about time I put up an update - I'm hopefully less than a week away from finishing my PhD - we'll see if I can get through the story any faster after then.

~ Chapter 49 - A Second retrieval attempt ~

"One if the first lessons every pup learns, be it toys or treats: If you can't retain your prey then it's not yours." Sesshoumaru heard his father's voice in his head. The words had been spoken as a prelude to the simple game of "catch-and-keep-if-you-can" when he was very very small and had involved a chase similar to this. Like his father had, he didn't fully exerting himself to outrun his protégée but rather set a distance that encouraged her to strive to catch up rather than abandon the chase. And, he admitted to himself, in ceasing to consider the leonine form of Higurashi Kagome as a pet, he had slipped into the role of mentor. He was also cooly aware that when she shed this youkai-like appearance, and the abilities it granted her, that his interest in her development would surely drift back to indifference. However here and now, the sharing and directing of her first efforts hunting, with their minor triumphs, the childish joy of pranking Higurashi Kagome, and the game of the chase elated him in a way that made him feel centuries younger.

As he darted through the forest he maintained a straight coarse, only occassionally varying his direction to include obstacles to challenge his temporary student. Higurashi Kagome had begun her pursuit smashing through the vegetation behind him in an uncouth fashion but, far faster than he had expected, her pursuit had become quieter and more nimble, dodging around the bushes and picking a clear path rather than shouldering through by strength, though she had a more than sufficiency of that for a human turned youkai-like.

His reason for not laying false trails or doubling back and changing direction lay in his intention to test the boundaries of the story place. He did not expect to be able to out run the small forest of the rose-entwined keep any more than he had the glade where the dwarves had laid him out in the glass box but he intended to check none the less.

Sesshoumaru slowed his pace slightly having recognised several of the the landmarks repeat themselves multiple times, in particular an array of boulders. They had reached the boundaries of this place then, and were being made to rerun and rerun the last half mile. He was processing what this meant when Higurashi Kagome suddenly leapt out of a thicket of undergrowth before him, having somehow gotten ahead of him and settled into a place of ambush. He dodged instinctively and she missed by a whisker width of space, passing by him as he whirled, to land in thicket to his right. Sesshoumaru couldn't help himself, a short laugh of pleased surprise barked from his lips, the first he had uttered in over a century. Higurashi Kagome appeared to be swearing, but good-naturedly, as she extricated herself from the hedge, lithely turning to come at him again. He waited, feet planted for her attack, the deer still tucked under his arm. She came directly at him intent but, to his surprise it turned into a feint, she suddenly ducked aside, grabbing the hind legs of the deer as she went past. She almost had it out of his grip but he twisted and got a double handed grip on it before she got it free. A brief bout of Tug-of-War ensued. Sesshoumaru, never one to play fair when in such a rare effervescent mood poked Higurashi Kagome fiercely in the nose with two sharp fingers. She gave a feral growled, more of shock than of pain, but held on and then surprised him by throwing herself backwards, pulling both he and the deer after her. Her hind feet were ready as she rolled onto her shoulders, kicking out at him while tenaciously holding onto her prey. Sesshoumaru tumbled over both, considered exerting his strength but instead ceded the prey to her… for a moment. He let Higurashi Kagome believe in her victory for the length of time it took for her to begin readjusting her grip on the carcass and then tackled her, twisting the deer's legs from her grip and then, with it, he bounded away again through the forest, this time with an audible and feral whoop of mocking triumph.

~o0o~

"Damn the man!" Kagome wasn't sure whether to roar in frustration or laughter as the taiyoukai disappeared into the trees again with her kill. When he'd said they would not return until she'd caught one it hadn't occurred to he might prolong the lesson. With a mixture of exasperation and exhilaration she shook the leaf litter and loam from her back and set out after him again.

Kagome had almost lost the trail at the point where, somehow without breaking stride, Sesshoumaru had gutted the carcass. The gory mess of entrails had been flung to some distance to the side of his trail but she had ignored it, instead following the the faint but crisp acid-apple scent of his Youki which continued to cut across wind in an almost straight line North East. In passing the newly educated Kagome had realised that this meant that there would be no risk of the meat from being tainted by the innards bursting if they did tussle over it. She had also realised that since stealing her prey Sesshoumaru had not changed direction. She had weighed up whether this meant she should expect him to suddenly backtrack or lay a false trail. But then she had kept him in sight most of the time, could see glimpses of him ahead still and he didn't look like he was going to change direction. He also hadn't looked back at all as he ran.

A plan had occurred to her and, revelling in her newfound ability to run, Kagome veered off to the right, up wind of Sesshoumaru's path, pushing herself to close the distance as quietly and quickly as possible, to get in a position to ambush him even as he was ran. And then she had realised that she kept running through the same patch of forest. She had stopped and, to her bemusement, watched Sesshoumaru run past two more times, fortunately not spotting her, before she realised that the place was looping them back. Slinking through the undergrowth, keeping down wind for she was well aware he knew the smell of rosemary didn't belong in this place, she had set up her ambush.

It had been a pretty good plan for a first attempt and Kagome prided herself on the thought she had probably, at least slightly, surprised the taiyoukai with it. Granted he was more than pulling his punches, he wasn't moving as fast as she knew he could, and the trick she's played wouldn't work a second time. Kagome loped along following Sesshoumaru's trail. He was no longer in sight and she had a distinct certainty that they were no longer playing a game of speed and chase. Here and there the trail broke off and Kagome cast about with all of her senses, playing hot and cold. Sometimes she found a spot or two of crimson from the deer carcass. Other times, for the fraction of a second she caught a tang of his youki, obviously intentionally, that gave her a direction before disappearing again. She was fairly certain these were no accident. She shook her head, blinking back the peripheral vision that adrenaline of the chase had blotted out. She felt she'd won some points of regard in Sesshoumaru's eyes and she was damned if she was going to muff it by making a really stupid mistake in what, she sensed, had become a stalking game. The tang of his youki brushed her senses again and reminded her of her own reiki, something she hadn't sought in… well in this form.

Still scanning her surroundings Kagome drew in a slow breath and turned some of her attention inwards, seeking her own ki… it was there deep in her core. At first she thought it was repelling away from her skin. Cautiously, still keeping an ear cocked on the forest around her incase Sesshoumaru had an ambush of his own, she mentally tugged at the tight ball of spiritual energy, teasing it loose, intending to draw just enough on it for her to better see the sparkling wisps of Sesshoumaru's youki she could almost make out on his trail. But like a bath ballistic it didn't so much unravel as crumble outward in a fizzing surge of energy, tingling from her nose to her tail tip to fill her body with radiant light. It wasn't the beast form that had suppressed it, but some part of her unconcious mind had held it tight in control, now she had reached for it she hummed with reiki.

The air around her sang and she noted with exasperation that she had accidentally stripped the air of Sesshoumaru's spoor. Her very toes tingled and Kagome drew in another deep breath. She was about to attempt to quash her aura - which must have blazed out like a beacon when another thought occurred to her. A slow grin split her whiskers. A second cunning plan… and it might work too… Focusing, as she had with the reiki needle, with the fire for the swan maidens, with, gods forgive her, the words she had thrown at the cuckoo youkai, Kagome drew on her reiki and imbued as much of it as she could into the nearest large tree. She charged that tree up with glowing pink spiritual energy until it glowed like something out a television advertisement for girls-toys-up-to-the-age-of-eight. And then she clamped down on her personal reiki. She could still feel it tingling through her system but was fairly certain she no longer broadcast it. Or if she did hopefully the tree would mask it out. There was a rustle in the foliage of a nearby tree Kagome started but saw nothing. She'd created a huge sign post of spiritual energy - with any luck Sesshoumaru would assume it was her but it wouldn't move so she had to move quick before he figured it out. Still grinning Kagome headed in the direction the youki had indicated before she had obliterated it.

It seemed too easy. Ahead the deer was wedged low in the crotch of a tree on the edge of the largest glade. The scattered blood trail lead right to it. Sesshoumaru's youki was not to be sensed. The carcass wasn't in a very good state after their earlier tussling, Kagome was rather glad it wasn't facing outward as she looked around warily, circled the tree in a spiral, on the lookout for the trap. She has just balanced herself on her hind legs and was about to reach up with both paws to work the limp body free when there was a sequence of rustles, as something moved rapidly through the trees from behind her and Sesshoumaru crash tackled her out, head over tail three times, onto the open turf.