AN: Again, thank you everyone who follow and fave this story. I read all your reviews and it warms my heart. Now I swear I am almost done torturing Kagome. Hope you will like this chapter.

CHAPTER 9 - Apple Picking

The night had been short for Kagome but she did not feel tired. Her body did not cry out for rest like it used to, even after a sleepless night and much crying the same day. Getting up as soon as the sun made an appearance, she and the rest of the group started to walk in an unknown direction, unknown to all but Sesshomaru.

Tensions were still high between the two, even though they explained themselves the night before, Kagome still felt uncomfortable with Sesshomaru. She tried to offer him an olive branch in the morning, greeting him with a small smile and asked him where they were headed. To what him just started walking away silently, expecting her to follow him. Even Rin gave an apological smile to Kagome before running away to reach the daiyokai.

It was painful for her to realise how different her new companions were from what she was used to. When she was with Inu Yasha and the others, she used to be the one guiding them to where she felt the shards. And when there were no shards around, they all decided where to go together. She realised that this kind of thinking or way of deciding was not the way of doing things here. Sesshomaru would take all decisions and she would have to follow quietly. She felt like a child, a child that was excluded from all decisions.

Sesshomaru smelled the air deeply. He could smell blood, a lot of it where a small village stood in the valley. There was no doubt in his mind, the villagers were all dead and the culprit fled in the forest. As Lord of those land, it was Sesshomaru's duty to protect the people living in the Weastern part of the country, even the human. Although the daiyokai would not be sad about their death, he was irritated that someone would wreak havoc in what was his.

"Rin, miko, you stay" he said before disappearing between the trees.

Hearing the loud protest of Kagome, Sesshomaru summoned his yoki under his feet and raced through the sky, not wanting her to follow him. The smell of blood had been faint when he parted with the rest of the group. Surely she did not smell the dead, he even doubted Jaken picked up on it yet. Getting closer to the village, the air was overpowered with the smell of blood and decay.

Lower yokai were amassing at the edge of the forest, attracted by the blood and the promise of a free meal. Sesshomaru walked at the center of the village, trying to identify the odour of the killer in order to track him. A lot of smells were present and were mixed together; anger, sadness, fear, tears, death, madness, and something familiar.

Kagome had been sulking ever since Sesshomaru left her behind to do who knows what. Talking to Rin she learned that it was actually a pretty common behavior for the Lord of the West to abandon his ward without any given reason.

"Sesshomaru-sama sometimes leaves Rin with Jaken for weeks." The little girl explained, "but he always comes back" she said, giving Kagome the biggest smile she had seen yet.

"He leaves you in the middle of the forest without telling you when he'll be back?" Kagome asked, sad to learn that the sweet girl spends most of the time alone in the forest.

"It's okay Kagome-chan. I can find food by myself and sometimes Jaken stays with me, although he thinks I'm annoying he always protects Rin."

Kagome felt sad of the young girl, her life sounded very lonely. She glanced at the toad Yokai who stayed with them. He looked vaguely annoyed to be left behind with the two girls.

"Well I'm here with you today, so what should we do?" said Kagome, trying to cheer the child and herself up.

"Hmmm…. I remember coming here once," said Rin excited "there are some apple trees close by. Let go get some, Kagome-chan."

Sesshomaru lifted his arm up, summoning his light whip. In a graceful movement, Sesshomaru lowered his arm across his body in a semi circle. The light whip followed the motion and effortlessly ripped into the weaker yokai's body, killing them in a single strike. Not a drop of blood had stained his clothes or had tainted his pale skin. Truly, he killed them with precision and grace despite his frustration.

Advancing into the forest, Sesshomaru's face did not reflect a fraction of his anger. He knew that today would not be the day he would fight a powerful yokai, prove his value to his clan or even feel the joy in killing a skilful warrior.

Reaching his destination, Sesshomaru was greeted with a loud growl and hissing.

"What have you done now?" Sesshomaru asked, covering his nose from the strong smell of blood that was emanating from his opponent.

Kagome climbed the tree easily, cutting apples for Rin to pick up on the ground. Both of them laughing uncontrollably at the pitiful attempt Jaken made to climb the apple tree; which resulted in the toad yokai to fall hard on his butt with a resounding sound.

Picking a nice apple above her head, Kagome took a bite of the juicy fruit. The fruit tasted very sweet to her, but it had a weird aftertaste, almost sour and metallic. A taste she could not remember if she ever tasted it before or not.

While inspecting the apple to make sure it was not bruised or spoiled, something warm fell on her forehead. The smell hit her like a truck, it filled the air rapidly and she asked herself how she did not smell it before. It seemed like Rin and Jaken did not notice it and they looked at her worryingly.

Something deep in her was stirring. Something animalistic was trying to take control of her body the minute she took a bite of the apple. The smell was enticing, the taste could not leave her mouth. She wanted more of it, what ever 'it' was. Her vision slowly became dark, as if she was falling asleep, until she could not see or feel anything else but the smell high above her.

Raising her head in the direction the mysterious smell was coming from, Kagome was woken up by Rin's scream. Opening her eyes, Kagome saw why Rin was now screaming and crying uncontrollably. Sickness took her and Kagome proceeded to puke out the bite of apple she had found so tasty only a minute earlier.

The taste was the taste of blood. High above her head was a little ball of orange fur, mangled and soaked in blood, resting on the tree branch. The recognised the fur instantly and began to climb higher to rescue the poor child. Tears was running down her cheeks as she called his name in the hope he would answer her voice.

"SHIPPO!"