A/N - I do not own Inuyasha.

*So... yeah. Little longer than usual - but I am trying hard to stick to my updating schedule so I can just put it together and add to it until Sat or Monday. Enjoy! *scampers off to write slash porn* Who knew it was so fun to make a male take it up the you-know-where? No Sesshomaru's were harmed in the making of this chapter. (slash is only for my original characters). Kagome, however, owns a whip. Maybe. Probably.

Chapter Nine - To Wine or Not to Wine

Sango rolled her eyes at the clerk Miroku was questioning. The stupid man could not keep his eyes off her breasts long enough to focus on the Hunter Monk's words. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned around. It wasn't her fault the pink blouse she had worn the previous day had shrunk in the stupid motel dryer until it clung to her.

She felt the ominous rumble of her cell once more from the back pocket of her jeans. She ignored it. Her father had even roped her mother into leaving voicemails full of her crying to guilt Sango into returning their calls.

Miroku, bless his philandering heart, had kept his word and not told her father she was with him. She had told her mother she was taking a vacation due to the stress of the recent fights with her father over his refusal to allow her to continue training and Kagome's disappearance. Her mother had not known what to say, and Sango had quickly hung up before her father could get involved. It was easier to avoid him than to goad that particular bull with the flag of her disobedience.

"You recall seeing her? You are sure?" Miroku questioned once more.

The clerk picked at the scab on his elbow and nodded his head. "Yeah. She had a great rack. I don't forget tits like that," he affirmed with a lewd grin toward Sango's back. "She wanted the organic crap we keep on the high shelf to discourage thieves."

Miroku resisted the urge to beat the grin off the idiot's face when the cretin's eyes dropped to blatantly check out Sango's backside. He cleared his throat instead and shoved the photo Sango had provided under the man's nose. "Look at her face. This was her?"

Finally catching on to the seriousness in Miroku's line of questioning, the clerk held his hands up. "Hey, maybe you should be talking to the manager. I don't know anything about her. I swear. I volunteer for that section to meet chicks, not get involved with criminals."

Sango turned around and glared at the man. "She isn't a criminal. She could be in trouble. Your manager sent us to talk to you. The camera system is older than I am, and the video was too grainy for us to be sure. So just look at the damn picture and answer him!" she snarled.

The man, Kin by his nametag, swallowed and immediately glanced down at the picture. He frowned then nodded. "That's her. I, uh, might have her credit card information so you can be sure," he volunteered.

Miroku blinked. How had he managed that? "Any information would be useful."

The clerk pulled out a dark, plastic wallet from the pocket on his vest and opened it. Miroku saw a plethora of old receipts filling the place for bills. A crisp piece of paper was pulled out and Kin handed it to Miroku.

Sango pushed against Miroku's arm and pulled his hand down so she could read the receipt. "That's hers," she confirmed.

Miroku's brow arched when he glanced down at her. "How can you be sure?" he asked, then turned back to the clerk. "I will be taking this with me. Why did you have this? It is illegal to steal the information of customers."

Kin scowled. "I don't care about that! I use the receipts later. You know. In private. To remember the hotties I met."

Sango grimaced. Seriously? This guy was such a creep. He used receipts to jerk off to the women he helped during the day? He needed a punch to the head.

Miroku held his hand out. "The rest of them," he ordered, then, thinking better of it, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and accepted the wallet with a grimace. "I will be speaking with your manager. Regardless of the innocence behind your intentions, it is still illegal to take financial information home with you. For your help in this matter the Slayers will not press this matter, but another infraction will see you prosecuted for identity theft."

Kin's face paled, and he scurried away without a farewell. Sango scoffed, "He is such a slimeball."

"Yes, but his perverted nature gave us a clue that would have otherwise been thrown in the garbage." Miroku pulled out his phone and took a picture of the receipt. He sent it through the database and then when it came back quickly with the card information matching Kagome's asked again, "How did you know this was hers?"

Sango snorted. "She had watched a documentary on the pesticides and chemicals in most of the feminine products that are sold today. She is the only one I know who buys the super expensive brand and she only buys chocolate-covered fruit and nuts. She can't stand chocolate by itself. She always said that if the Kamis meant chocolate to be eaten on its own they would not have grown it on a tree."

Miroku's face screwed up. "What? That makes no sense."

Sango shrugged. "That's Kagome. She doesn't always make sense, but she is predictable. Who else would buy three packs of chocolate-covered cherries, two mini bottles of blueberry-infused chocolate wine, pecan and wasabi coated truffles, Midol and organic tampons?"

Miroku grimaced and his stomach clenched. Wasabi coated truffles? He cleared his throat and folded the receipt to place in his pocket. "There was no male with her in the camera shot. Though we could not be sure it was her from the video, we would have recognized someone of Sesshomaru's stature. Do you think they are still together?"

Sango frowned thoughtfully. "I knew to come here because I looked it up and this is one of the only stores to sell those tampons she buys. Kami knows I had to hunt them down for her often enough during our university days. She was always irregular," she added. "Shippo said Sesshomaru was planning on taking her somewhere no one would be so they could enjoy a honeymoon. I think he stayed out of sight, but they are traveling toward the wild parts of Japan that only Youkai inhabit. She would not go that way without him."

"That seems to play into the rumors put out by Hisaki," Miroku pointed out.

Sango snorted. "Kagome is on her period. There is no honeymoon-ing going on right now or for the next five to seven days. Shippo hasn't told us everything."

Humming in thought, Miroku regarded her with new respect. "It appears we need to talk to a certain kitsune next. How are you at climbing? Shippo has been taken to a mountain retreat. If he is protecting them he might not talk in front of others. We will need to make a visit to the kit using stealth."

Sango grinned. "I ascended Kilimanjaro with my climbing group last year and am rated for ice."

His teeth flashed white. "I should not be surprised, but I am impressed. Let's get some gear next door at the outdoor shop and we will be able to make it there within a few hours of driving. We will need to stop for the night at another motel. Perhaps a change of clothes should be purchased as well, not that I am complaining about the delightfulness of your charms being on full display."

Sango huffed, hating that she blushed. She scowled. "Eyes up here, Monk," she commanded with a finger pointing to her face. He grinned, unrepentant, and swept an arm in front of him to give her the lead.

He was as much a lech as the clerk, Sango thought uncharitably while marching out of the store. Yet why did she find Miroku's perverted glances distracting rather than disgusting? She shook such thoughts away. He had already proven he could not be trusted. She clung to that thought.

"Where are they?" Kagura demanded.

Hiten shrugged. "We haven't seen any movement on the radar. The borderlands that contain the wilds have not been breached. They are still in the city somewhere. I don't see a Youkai like Sesshomaru roughing it anyway. I sent Manten to check every four-star hotel in the area since the Monk reported his sighting of the Miko Higurashi to his boss."

"You idiot," Kagome seethed. "Sesshomaru only appears to be a foppish male. He has earned his power, not had it handed to him. He is clever. If there is a way to get passed the security he will figure it out. Call your brother back and send him to the wilds. No Youkai know how to hunt and hide in the wilds better than inuyoukai! Let the Miko get away and you will be the one to answer to Naraku, not I!"

Hiten narrowed his eyes on Kagura. "Don't think because he is fucking you that you will speak to me however you wish. You are just the cunt he uses. I am the one who hunted down every high-level foreign Youkai that had no clan to miss them to feed Naraku's return to strength."

"Bastard, you will regret every word," Kagura threatened.

A dark chuckle met her ire. "I will call Manten back. In the meantime, I suggest you think on just who you should be loyal to. Sesshomaru will not survive long once Naraku has his heart returned. I do enjoy a feisty female on her knees before me. Naraku won't care if his whore makes herself useful to his second-in-command."

Kagura's lip curled. "I would sooner fuck your brother," she spat.

Rather than take offense, Hiten grinned. "He would rather eat your heart than taste your cunt but do try anyway. Just let me watch."

Kagura screamed her rage and whirled to leave the sitting room they had met in. She slammed the doors closed behind her and left the building and the odious male she could not stand. She stalked to the car that had been waiting for her outside and slid behind the wheel.

Thirty minutes later she was in traffic blocking the intersection she had to make. She cursed and slammed the palms of her hands on the wheel, staring at all the humans behind their wheels who were in her way. Damn them. Damn them all. Naraku could not come back into power soon enough. He planned to wipe the earth of all the humans, only leaving behind those that would serve him and those he chose to anoint to his side.

She would find a way to seduce Sesshomaru to the right way of thinking. He hated humans. He would see reason. He had to.

"You have to be kidding," Kagome griped. "Please tell me you are kidding."

Sesshomaru dropped the chest he had kept hidden in the trunk of the car. It thudded in the dirt. He took a deep breath of the night air. No poisons or pollutants were filtered out by his lungs. A small smile graced his lips.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome wave a hand in front of his face.

"Silence, Miko," he stated. "This one's ears are still ringing from the terrible music you insisted upon in exchange for your silence the last hour."

Her eyes narrowed, but she bit her words back. He would be enjoying the bliss of quiet for all it was worth while it lasted.

Sesshomaru watched her pace from the corner of his eye while he unpacked the rolled leather and cords he had not the occasion to use in over a century. The chest was spelled to ensure its contents would not fade through time. He had been fanciful once and had thought, if he had younglings, he would like to see them make use of the same materials he had on his search for ultimate power.

He made short work of fashioning a rough tent they would have to share until he could be certain Naraku had been found and disposed of. While he hated the idea of leaving the hunt to others, he could not leave Higurashi's safety to chance. Naraku could have his tentacles in the Council. There was no one else to trust. Only once Naraku was dealt with could he know who had been behind the hanyou's return. Kagura would be spared her punishment until then.

The thought irked him almost as much as leaving Naraku to his sire to handle.

"I need a toilet," burst out of Kagome in a rush. "Kami, Sesshomaru, I really, really need a toilet. I cannot believe this! Why couldn't we have stayed in the city?"

He stood tall in the moonlight. "This one should have known better than to assume you would hold your tongue for longer than a few minutes." He held a hand up to forestall further argument. "The city is not safe. Too many could be working for Naraku. In the wilds, all Youkai operate under one rule. Fight or die. Those that make their homes here would not work for the hanyou. They seek power, not false promises."

Kagome fidgeted. "Humans don't come here for a reason. And I need a bathroom, Sesshomaru. How am I supposed to clean up, especially right now?"

He shrugged. "There is a creek over the hill," he said with a gesture behind him. "If this one can manage you should be quite happy." He sniffed in her general direction. "Perhaps it is time to make use of the bathing soaps this one packed?" He tossed her a small pouch.

Kagome scowled at it then at him. "What is this? I don't use Youkai stuff. I tried a bat hanyou's blush once and it gave me a rash."

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes to the sky. "Unscented and crafted from goat's milk, you insufferable woman. Youkai do not use soap any differently than humans do. Bat Youkai have skin that absorbs anything on it. The cosmetics would have been crafted of heavy metals to allow it to show. Perhaps before trying something you should have researched the materials it was made of?"

More miffed he was right than at how he delivered the message, Kagome fingered the small pouch. She caught the towel he tossed her then sighed and picked up the bag she had packed two days ago. At least sleeping in a tent was better than crashing in the cab of his tiny car at a rundown rest stop. Her knees still ached from being bent at an odd angle to get comfortable the night before. She had woken up with Sesshomaru's hair in her mouth.

He may look good, not even she could deny that. Sesshomaru even smelled nice, in a musky, masculine way. But his hair tasted like wet dog. Not that she would ever tell him that. She did have some sense of self-preservation.

She grumbled to herself quietly about the many indignities she had suffered since Sesshomaru had so gracefully stepped into the role as her protector. This took the cake, however, she thought once the trickle of water came into view just ahead of her. She looked back, the tiny penlight he had handed her once they left the car at the perimeter of the borderlands her only illumination. The camp was barely visible. Sesshomaru had refused to make a fire when she mentioned it on the way to the camp site. He had asked her if she intended to invite every predator in the wilds to dine with them as well.

Stupid, sarcastic Youkai. Since when did Sesshomaru know how to camp, anyway? She had only been once. After returning with more itchy bug bites than she had fingers and toes she had sworn off repeating the experience.

"Ugh," Kagome shuddered at the cold water that slipped through her fingers. At least it was clean, she tried to think positively. Listening carefully, she sighed and rifled through her bag and pulled out grey sweats and a pink tank top. She slipped off her old clothes and stepped into the knee-deep water. Feeling icky but not knowing what else to do with it, she dug a small hole in the hilly bank next to the water and buried her used feminine products in it. At least they were fully biodegradable.

She dropped into the water and lathered up. It had been days since she had last enjoyed a proper bath, though she would not exactly call frigid water and soap without her good-smelling oils a bath so much as survival at its most bare. Shivering uncontrollably by the time she was done Kagome wrapped the towel around her hair once she was dry and dressed and grabbed her bag. She ran back to the tent.

Sesshomaru took an experimental whiff once Kagome crashed into the tent next to him. He was relieved to note most of the old blood smell had been removed from her person. It unsettled him. Youkai females bled during their fertile period, not after, and the blood scent was fresh. Higurashi's scented almost of a mortal wound. Her hormones, at least, were not attempting to entice males to her as a Youkai's did at their bleeding time.

The last thing Sesshomaru needed was to be stuck in close quarters with a female that he could not get away from. His instincts were perfectly functional. Though his mind was of one opinion did not mean his instinct to breed could not be triggered. He would not fall to something so base, of course, but the experience would be annoying.

"I am freezing," she said, teeth chattering. "Where is the blanket? How is it so cold here when it was hot enough I could wear a skirt days ago at the shrine?"

Sesshomaru dropped the blanket on top of her head, muffling the clacking of her teeth. "The wilds are supported by ancient wards. The climate here is as it was hundreds of years ago, before the climate changed and the many buildings came to be in cities that radiate heat and keep the temperature more moderate."

Kagome snuggled into the warm coverlet that was silky against her cheek but smelled so much like Sesshomaru it was almost like she was wearing his clothes. She had turned her penlight off just outside the tent. She squinted at the blanket in the moonlight. Purple and magenta. Was that the one from his bed? She had only seen Sesshomaru's room a few times when Inuyasha had really upset him and he needed a game away from all other 'annoyances' and escorted her to them.

"This would have been useful last night in the car before you fell asleep when I think my goosebumps had bumps," Kagome groused, but wrapped it around her tighter to make a Kagome burrito. She didn't care what it was or what it smelled like. It was hers now. The towel fell off her head, and she slipped a hand out of her cocoon of warmth to push it to the side.

Sesshomaru yanked the towel from the ground and stepped out of the tent. He hung it over the cords that supported the roof of the tent then rejoined Kagome in the tent. "Have you no sense?" he sneered. "Leaving wet items crumbled will result in fungal growth."

Kagome huffed. "Sorry. I did not take camping 101 in University. Next time I will make sure to hang my towel up the second it leaves my head, Great One," she snapped back, using the new name she really, really liked for him. It held the proper amount of panache and she could imbue it with the appropriate amount of derision every time.

Sesshomaru shook his head, and he leaned back to stare out the tent at the stars that shown through the open front. "It is beyond this one's understanding how humans managed to make it out of the trees to now challenge Youkai superiority."

Kagome snickered. "Some Youkai came from the trees too. There are monkey Youkai. Just call us cousins from another mother." She bit her lip then added, "Do you think all Youkai are born superior? Didn't you have to train and study to become as you are now? I am only in my twenties. What were you like at that age? It isn't fair that you keep comparing humans to Youkai. It is like comparing a parrot to a finch. They're both birds but parrots can live for eighty years and learn how to talk. Finches die in a few years and are prone to dropping dead from any little change in the environment. Give humans some credit for making it this far."

He arched a brow at her. "Should the parrot be made to give up its habitat so that the finch can live in the cage it needs to flourish?"

"That's not fair," she pointed out. "No humans are making Youkai leave their homes. Youkai are the ones who control the Districts and made the wilds."

Sesshomaru returned his gaze to the stars. "That is a simplistic view of the matter. This one watched the human population become problematic. Youkai had to assume responsibility for directing their numbers and instill some sense of control over humanity or your species would consume the world in short order. You have no idea of the sacrifices that had to be made in the last century alone to keep the peace between our species. Let alone the different breeds of Youkai."

"Do you miss it?" Kagome asked. "Being in control of the District," she clarified.

"No." Hard. Firm. His denial rang with truth. "This one's sire is welcome to the headache of managing such a diverse population and responsibilities if he would manage both with proper respect."

"If?"

"Go to sleep."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "I am not sleepy. Talk to me, Sesshomaru. I am sure I will fall asleep soon enough. You are an ass, but you do have a nice voice," she jibed. "If you don't want to talk about your dad, then tell me more stories about the Mikos of old."

"This one is not your nursemaid, Higurashi."

"Kagome," she threw back. "My mother is Higurashi. I am Kagome. If you don't talk to me I may as well crack open the last bottle of wine."

"That was left at the rest area," Sesshomaru declared with a hard smile.

Kagome grinned. "Think again, Youkai. I saw you throw out my stash and got it when you used the bathroom."

He scowled. "You brought something which had touched garbage into this one's car?"

She laughed out loud and sat up. It was still cold in the tent, but she was toasty from the blanket and sparring with the Daiyoukai. The chill felt good on her cheeks. She pulled the bag she had dropped inside the tent to her and pulled out a bag of alcohol wipes she had packed. "I always carried these with me when Sango and I took road trips. I didn't think about it but packed them anyway. The sanctity of your vehicle is assured. Not that it matters. You left it parked in a rough part of town. If it isn't on blocks or bearing graffiti by the time we get back to it I'll kiss Jaken."

He huffed. It was a rental. But it was still his while he made use of it. Speaking of which, he held out his hand. "Give the wine to this one."

"No." She gripped the neck of the twelve-ounce bottle. "Within lay my sanity if I need it. You know the saying. Crack the glass in the event of an emergency."

"Do you like life?" he asked silkily.

"I like life very much," Kagome responded with a smile. He wasn't going to kill her. If he wanted to he would have already. Maim. Torture. Lecture until her ears fell off, probably. Kill? Meh. Naw.

His eyes narrowed. "You think to deny me?"

"You think to take my wine? You'll pry it from my cold, dead fingers Daiyoukai." Kagome put it behind her back quickly when he moved toward her. "Wait, wait!" she objected with a chuckle despite his seeming anger. "I'll make a deal. I saw your chess set. If you win you get the wine. I win, you have to drink it with me."

He narrowed his eyes on her.

"At least one swig. Afraid you can't beat me?" she asked with a puckish smile. Tell her he was playing with half a mind and that was the only reason she bested him over and over, would he? Now he could not pretend he didn't care about the outcome of the game.

"This wine makes you irrational. Your singing assaulted this one's ears the entire morning. Is not there some sanctity to the morning that says alcohol is not to be consumed before a certain time?"

"Yeah. It says it's five o'clock somewhere. Especially when I woke to a Youkai poking me in the gut and asking me if it was normal for my limbs to become bloated like a dead fish left in the sun. The answer is yes. Yes it is. Human bodies do all sorts of gross and disgusting things, but at least we don't go around poking strangers in the belly and being rude as hell."

Most of us, she amended to herself. Souta, the brat, had done something similar to her. She couldn't help it her fingers swelled like sausages if it got too hot while she was on her cycle. She had been cold until Sesshomaru had fallen asleep last night. When he slept it was as if a fire had been lit in the car next to her. She had been tempted to strip down to her bra and had been forced to crack the window or burn up. Kami, she pitied the female who ended up sleeping next to him the rest of her life. She would need to sleep on top of ice or get used to being a sweaty mess.

"One game," Sesshomaru said with a glare. "No arguments. And the rest of your wasabi chocolates will be tossed in the creek along with the contents of the bottle."

She laughed. "Deal. Though it's your own fault for sticking your nose in my stuff. I wouldn't even try to sniff wasabi powder." His eyes had watered, and he had sneezed for an hour. She had been allowed to drive, for once, because he almost ran them off the road with one monstrous sneeze after another. Youkai may not have food allergies, but he sure hated the smell of wasabi. Good to know.

Sesshomaru left the tent to get the board and pieces from the chest. Kagome settled in the blanket and retrieved the pen light. He might be able to see in the dark, but she needed more than moonlight to concentrate. This game was too important. She was not losing her wine!