Disclaimer:I don't own Inuyasha. Phooey. Thanks everyone for reviewing. You've all been great!

As for Miroku calling Sonnet Sango, that was just a slip of the hand. But that could have some possibilities to it. Hmm. Oh well, on with the next chapter!

Chapter 6: Old Friends

"So you're saying the demons that attacked the village were slave catchers?" Miroku asked the innkeeper early the next morning.

"Yes. That was the only reason why our village was spared. They already had enough slaves." The innkeeper shuddered. "But rumor has it they're being taken to a demon village over in the Western Lands."

"Western Lands?" Miroku said confusingly. "I've never heard of any village in the Western Lands. Does such a thing exist? "

The innkeeper shook his head. "Yes there is one. They say it's filled with demons who are able to get along together, much like a human village. They keep many slaves, and kill any humans who try to enter. Not that there have been any." He added.

"Until now." Said a voice from behind them.

They turned to find Sonnet already packed with all their stuff, ready to go, and with money in her hands.

"Thank you for letting us use your room." She said, handing him the money. "Now if you excuse us, we are on a mission and must be leaving soon." She bowed and walked toward the door. "Wait, Sonnet!" Miroku yelled, catching up to her. "Are you sure you're ready to go so soon?"

Sonnet looked at him angrily. "My mother is out there, being sold as a slave! There is no to soon. We're already to late!" She picked up her pace.

"Sonnet," Miroku said, trying to clam her down. "This is very dangerous. We have to have a clear a head about this. Are we just going to go in, without a plan?"

"Well," Sonnet stared, "The plan is to get over to that village as quickly as possible, and then come up with a better plan. Don't worry, we'll think of something. And I think I know where this place is. I heard my mom talk about it a few times before."

"What did she say about it?"

"She said if you ever go there, more than likely you will die a slow and painful death." Sonnet was quiet. "If you don't want to go with me, I will understand. It is a dangerous mission, and it's not like you have any ties to this. I won't blame you if you go." She said as she stared up in his eyes.

'So much like Sango.' Miroku thought again, staring at the daughter of the woman he loved. The daughter that wasn't his. He took her hand. "I said I was going to go with you and save your mother, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Don't think you can scare me with a little death mission." He said with a smile.

Sonnet smiled back. "Thank you." She leaned against him as they traveled in a comfortable silence, the morning sun trickling thought the trees.

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"I still can't believe you and Inuyasha live here!" Sango said in disbelief, as she and Kagome ate breakfast. They had spent all last night talking and catching up on the last ten years in Kagome's huge castle, where she, her family, and Sesshomaru's family lived.

"Yeah. After I completed college and became a certified nurse, Sesshomaru came and offered us a place in his castle. I don't think he really wanted to, because of Inuyasha, but Rin probably had a big hand in his decision. We've been very busy since we got here."

"So you and Rin are both the mates of demons. And you won't grow any older?" Sango asked as she looked over Kagome. The young woman in front of her looked exactly the same as she had 10 years ago.

"Uh huh. I still look like a 17 year-old, and Sesshomaru waited until Rin was 16 before mating with her." Kagome got a dreamy look on her face. "You should have seen him when he tried to tell Rin how he felt. He was a nervous wreck, though he didn't try to show it. It was so cute!" Kagome giggled.

"You're so rich now." Sango said, referring to the beautiful kimo Kagome had on, made of the finest silk. She couldn't help but feel just a twig of jealously. "Do you and Inuyasha own the whole village now?"

Kagome shook her head. "No, no one really 'owns' it. But we and Sesshomaru's family are one of the most powerful families here." She shrugged. "I guess it's pretty nice here. Sometimes I still miss Kaede's village, though."

"Why did you leave, then?"

Kagome smiled. "Actually, we didn't leave. We were sort of.uh.kicked out." She blushed a little.

Sango looked shocked. The villages loved Kagome. "Why'd they kick you out?"

"Well, after Kaede died, we had Haru. And just to let you know, he was quite a little troublemaker, even at the young age of two. Inuyasha had to rebuild so many houses, it would have been funny if he hadn't been so angry about it." Kagome giggled. "Sounds like my Sonnet." Sango said, remembering the days of being throw out of inns because of her disruptive behavior. "Expect at age two, she was jumping off cliffs and trying to see which trees were flammable." Sango laughed as Kagome continued her story.

" A little while after we had twins, we got a knock on the door from some of the village leaders. They asked to speak to me, knowing Inuyasha temper, and said they were very sorry but they couldn't stand anymore 'little demons' running causing trouble around and asked us to leave. I thought it was funny, but Inuyasha was just a little mad." The two girls laughed.

They were interrupted when two white haired kids came in and hugged their mother. "Mom! Haru's trying to beat us up!" The girl and boy said, clinging onto her leg.

"Yuffy, Kato! Get back there and fight him like a true demon!" A gruff voice said, running into the kitchen. When he saw Kagome, he stopped, looked guilty, and tried to cover up what he was doing.

"Oh, hi Kagome." 'cough' "I was just trying to, you know, get Yuffy and Kato to," 'cough' "come with me so I can show them something." Inuyasha said, pathetically. Sango tried not to laugh.

"Inuyasha." Kagome said calmly. "You weren't trying to make the twins fight Haru, were you?"

"Of course not!" Inuyasha snapped, getting defensive. "What, do you think I'm stupid? I remember what happened last time."

"I know you do." Kagome said, smiling. "Do you see we have a guest?"

He looked at Kagome. "Oh course! I could smell her as soon she entered the village." He turned to Sango. "Hi, Sango. Have you met the twins?" Inuyasha pointed to the 5 year-old girl and boy. "The girl is Yuffy, and the boy is Kato. Yuffy, Kato, I want you to meet an old friend of ours, Sango."

"Nice to meet you." They said in usion.

Sango nodded at them. "You have twins, too?! Wow, you guys 'have' been busy these past few years." Sango said, enjoying the blush that spread across both their faces.

"Um, we have more besides Haru and the twins." Kagome said, her face bright red.

"What, there's more?"

Kagome nodded. "We have three more."

Sango shook her head and started laughing hysterically as Inuyasha made a run for it with the kids. He didn't want them to have questions about why their mother's friend was laughing her head off in the kitchen.

"Six kids in 10 years. That has got to be some kind of record." Sango said, still laughing.

"Hmph." Kagome waited for Sango to quiet down before she continued. "Well, what about you? Have you had any kids yet?" 'With Miroku?' She silently added. Sango quieted down. "Yes. I have a little girl, Sonnet."

"What a pretty name." Kagome said, waiting for any news of Miroku. When it didn't come, she decided to just go out and ask for herself. "Who's the father?" She asked, anxiously.

Sango was silent as she looked down at her cup. "Miroku." She said, quietly.

"So you got back together with him?" Kagome asked, readily awaiting the answer.

Sango shook her head. "No, he doesn't know."

"WHAT!" Kagome yelled. "How can he not know?"

Sango broke out in a sob. "I tried to tell him. I really did. But when I went back." She was crying heavily now. Kagome got up and tried to comfort her old friend the best she could. "Just let it all out." Kagome said, rubbing her back. "If I know you, you probably haven't had a good cry in 10 years."

Sango nodded. She really hadn't. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.

"For what?" Asked Kagome, confused.

"For not saying good-bye to you before I left."

Kagome looked at her fondly. "I never blamed you. I would have done the same thing if Inuyasha had done that to me."

"Thanks for being here, Kagome."

"Anytime, Sango."

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"Are we there yet?" Miroku whined again to Sonnet, as they climbed up the mountain.

"For the last time NO!" Shrieked Sonnet, trying to hold her patience. 'He's like a two year old.' She thought.

They had been traveling for most of the day like that, with Sonnet debating with herself the entire time on whether or not to kill him now. 'Note to self. Apologize to mom for anytime I had every been annoying.'

It was beginning to get dark, but Sonnet didn't want to stop until they reached the village.

"But we need to get there as soon as possible!" Sonnet said.

Miroku shook his head. "We'll need rest if we want to try and save your mother. I don't like it anymore than you do, but we need to be fresh if we're going to have any chance." Miroku said, renewing the parentship role.

"Fine." Sonnet grumbled, knowing he was right.

It had started to rain. Hard. They were trying to find any kind of shelter to protect themselves, when they came across a small cottage at the foot of a cliff.

"Why would a cottage be so close to the demon village?" Asked Sonnet, as they walked up to it.

"I don't know." Miroku said, beginning to get suspicious. 'This could be a trick.' He looked around, but he couldn't sense any demons around. "We might as well try to see if we can spend the night here." Miroku tried to straiten himself up, before he knocked on the door.

"Why are you trying to look presentable?" Sonnet asked, eyeing him as he fixed his hair.

"I am a respectable monk. I want to look that way when I tell the owner I sense demon spirits around his cottage."

Sonnet shook her head. "I don't sense any demons around."

"You probably aren't that advance in demon sensing yet." Miroku said quickly.

"Yeah right," Sonnet mumbled to herself. "And the other thing is, you don't want to look nice when you try to cheat people out of free food and board. You want to look as pathetic as humanly possible, so they take one look at you and beg you to take their room." She picked up some mud and smeared it on her face. She handed some mud over to Miroku.

"Are you sure?" Miroku said, taking the mud in his hand.

"Of course! I've done it a million times when mom was out of town, and I needed some food." Miroku gave her a look. "When I said I didn't know how to cook, I meant I didn't know how to cook at all. I'm always training. No time for the cooking lessons."

By the time they got to the door, it was pouring rain, and they were soaked. Miroku knocked.

An elderly looking man came and answered the door. He took one look at them, and hurried them inside.

"You guys look terrible! Come in, come in. Can I get you and your daughter anything, food, water perhaps?" The old man said, sitting them down at a table.

"Oh, no, I'm not his daug-" She was cut off by a sharp pain in her shins. Miroku had kicked her. She threw him a dirty look. . Miroku pretended not to notice. "Any food that you have would be great for me and my daughter. We've been traveling all day, and haven't eaten a thing."

The old man hurried to the kitchen, talking something about how he had done some traveling in his days.

Miroku leaned over to Sonnet. "Do you think he would let us stay here if we weren't related? Not many people would be happy with a grown man traveling with a young girl."

"Did you have to kick me?" Sango said angrily, rubbing her shin.

They had to pull away when the old man came in with a plate full of food. "Now eat up. I don't want a little girl like you to travel on an empty stomach." He said, patting her head.

Sonnet sent him a death glare.

Fortunately, he turned his attention away from Sonnet to Miroku, so he didn't notice. "So where are you folks heading to?" He asked.

Miroku took a sip of his tea, and started to answer, when he was interrupted by Sonnet. "Just going to visit my mother." She said, giving him a charming smile.

The man looked startled that she disrupted the grown ups conversation. "So why is your wife separated from you?" The man said, pointedly ignoring Sonnet. She didn't like how he seemed to be prying into their personal business, and she defiantly didn't like being ignored.

"Uhh.." Miroku said, trying to think. He liked having Sonnet referred to as his daughter, and he loved thinking of Sango as his wife. He snapped out of it when he saw both the old man and Sonnet were looking at him strangely. "She was called away because of her great healing powers." He said calmly, regaining his composure.

Sonnet and Miroku both looked at the man to see if he bought it. He shrugged his shoulders. "Did you know you're about to pass a demon village?" He asked, looking at Miroku.

"Oh, on. We are?!" Sonnet said sarcastically, in a very high, girly voice. She rolled her eyes as the man gave her a quick look and then turned his attention back to Miroku. 'Like we wouldn't know.' She thought. 'What are we, stupid?' "Yes, we are aware of where we are about to pass though. Can you tell us anything about this village." Miroku gave a disproving look at Sonnet, who just shrugged and looked in the opposite direction.

"Well, I have only been living here for a few years, but I heard what happened." The man said, sitting in the chair, like a grandpa would telling a bedtime story to a bunch of kids.

"There has never been a demon village before. No one had ever tried. Most demons stuck to their own kind, or they traveled alone, so having many different demons living together in a confined space didn't seem like it was going to work."

"But when the lord of the Western Lands started getting soft, he allowed his human girl to do whatever she wanted with his territory. She apparently wanted everyone in the world to live in perfect harmony. She decided to get many demons that were either casted away from their packs, or that were just plain loners, and had them come together in a village. There were some disrupts about instinct and such, but all in all it simultaneously came together. It has been a prospering village for about 5 years now." He finally ended, much to Sonnet's happiness.

"Well, that was interesting." Sonnet said, not even trying to hide her sarcasm. She faked a big yawn. "We hate to leave you, but we must get to bed if we're going to be leaving early, early in the morning." Sonnet got up and left to the other room before anyone could get a word out.

Miroku smiled apologetically, trying to make up for her obvious rudeness. "Thank you again for letting us stay in your humble cottage. I will retiring now. Good-night."

Miroku hurriedly charged out. He burst into their room. "Do you think you could have been any rudder back there?" Miroku asked, never raising his voice.

"Probably." Sonnet said, returning his calmness with a smile. Then she turned serious. " I don't trust that guy at all." She growled.

"Why not? He seemed nice enough."

"Just a feeling." Sonnet had feelings like that before of people she didn't trust, and she had been right on every one of them. "Maybe we should leave before he wakes up."

"Sonnet, do you really have to be suspicious about every man you meet?"

"I have a right to be!" Sonnet said in a sudden outburst. "Almost every man I have every met had been hiding something. The men in my village, the men I had tried countless of times to go out with my mother, and my father!" She sat down. "Especially my father." She said in a voice barley above a whisper.

They were interrupted with a knock on the door. "Can I come in?" The old man asked from behind the door, before entering. "Just thought you both would like some water before bed."

Sonnet rolled her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time, right in his face. "Thanks, that's just what we needed." She said as he handed her the water.

Miroku smiled, being much more respective. "Thank you very much."

They both set it down on the table. "Like I'm going to drink anything he gives me." Sonnet said, eyeing the water.

"Didn't you just eat a whole meal he gave you?"

Silence. "I don't feel like arguing right now." Sonnet turned around and laid down. "Good-night."

For the first time tonight, Miroku felt like rolling his eyes. 'What a difficult child.' He thought, good heartedly. 'She's amazing.' He thought, as he closed his eyes.

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Sonnet stared at her hand. The hand with the white circle. Embedded in the exact middle of her palm. The one she received from her father.

'Wow, that's a first.' She thought. She hasn't called the 'bastard' her father in forever, even in her head, ever since she knew it made mom sad. It sounded weird, even in her head. She mouthed the words, and she felt it one her lips. How strange it felt.

She would never admit it, but sometimes she did wonder what happened to her father. What him want to leave them, to leave her? Did he not want a child period, or was it because she a girl.

Sonnet sighed. She knew of other girls who were beaten and emotionally abused just because they weren't a boy. She wondered if her father was like that. Was he really that shallow that he couldn't even pretend to love her instead of just leaving? She felt tears welling up in her eyes, and she tried to hold them back.

'Damnit! I just need to stop thinking about him.' Sonnet thought. 'If he never wanted to be with me, then I just won't think about him.' She closed her eyes, and after a night of tossing and turning, she finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

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Miroku had been staring at Sonnet for what seemed like an eternity. No, he wasn't staring at Sonnet specifically; he was staring at her hand.

He had awoken to the sound of Sonnet tossing and turning. She looked like she was having a bad dream, and Miroku was wondering whether or not he should wake her up when he saw it. The hand. The hand that had a white circle in the middle of it. The hand that looked like his.

He brought his hand and held it next to hers. It matched his. She was his. She was his daughter.

'I have a daughter.' Miroku thought slowly, trying to get it to register in his brain. 'I have a daughter. I have a daughter. I have a daughter.'

It clicked. Miroku jumped up and down in joy, careful not to wake Sonnet up. No careful not to wake his daughter up.

The thing that made it perfect, completely and utterly wonderful, was that he had it with the one person he loved just as much as he loved Sonnet. He had it with Sango.

'It's not just my daughter. It's our daughter.' Miroku thought, as he watched Sonnet's sleeping figure. 'Together. She's ours. We made her. Together.'

Miroku found it hard to form full sentences in his brain. He needed to calm down. He saw the glass of water that the old man had brought for them and drank them both. When he finished, the whole reality of things struck him.

'What if Sango doesn't love him anymore? What if she never lets him see his own daughter? What if she leaves again, and takes Sonnet with her?' All these thoughts ran through his head at once. He stared at Sonnet as he remembered the things she had told him in the past.

'What if she doesn't accept me?' Miroku didn't think he could handle it if she decided she hated him.

Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over him, and he felt his knees shake underneath him. His vision blurred as he saw the empty glasses on the table.

'Poison!' he thought frantically, trying to walk over and wake Sonnet. His arms felt heavy, and he fell to the ground with a soft 'thud'.

'Stay safe.' Was his last thought as the poison took him over in a blissful sleep.

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Sonnet could feel the sun beating down on her face though the window the next morning. 'Damn.' Thought Sonnet, without opening her eyes. 'Now the old man's probably awake and we're going to have to eat breakfast with him. Just because we can't be 'rude.'" She groaned as she turned over to push her face into her pillow. 'I feel so bad. Why didn't Miroku wake me up?'

She pushed herself up, only to see Miroku lying in the middle of the room. 'I thought he slept in the far corner." Confused, she got up and walked over to him.

"Hey Miroku," She said, kicking him lightly with her foot. "Get your lazy butt up. We can still make a break for it if the old man's not up." Pause. "Miroku?"

Loud footsteps could be heard from outside the door, drawing her attention. There were to many for one man to make. "What the-?"

She was interrupted when the door busted open, and revealed five wolf demons.

"There they are!" The old man said, pointing at them. "There are those filthy humans."

Sonnet didn't waste a second. She made a dive for her daggers, only to be pinned down by four of the demons.

"Damnit! Get off of me! What the hell's going on?!" Sonnet screamed, kicking and punching the demons around her. After a few minutes of struggling, they finally managed to get her hands behind her back, and tied her wrists together. They roughfuly pulled her up.

"Miroku! Wake up!" Sonnet tried to break free of the demons grasps, only to have the old man walk up to her and slap her in the face. Hard. "Woman should never speak without being spoken to." He said, slapping her in the face again.

Sonnet spit out the blood from her lips. "Why are you doing this?" She screamed, angrily.

"This is just a trap cottage set up by the village to catch any slaves that manage to escape past the demons guards." He grinned, wickedly. "And to capture any humans stupid enough to travel this way."

Sonnet saw the other demon cruelly handle Miroku. "Hey! Leave him alone! Wake up, Miroku!"

The old man laughed, harshly. "He won't be waking up for quite awhile."

"What did you do to him?" Shrieked Sonnet.

The old man's smile only grew wider. "Just a little sleeping potion, nothing to serious. Of course, there is no guarantee. He could wake up tomorrow, or he could wake up in a year. I forget which one it is."

Sonnet glared at him. "I'll get you for this!" She growled.

The old man rolled his eyes. "I'm so scared." He said sarcastically. He watched as they took the struggling girl and the unconscious monk away. "Have fun being a slave for the rest of your life!"

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"Umm.Kagome?"

"Yes, Sango?"

"Are they supposed to doing that? I thought you said you didn't want them to fight." Sango said, referring to the dog pile that was happening right before her eyes.

Sango and Kagome and her family were all playing outside in the vast open yard. Sango and Kagome were talking under the shade of a tree, while Inuyasha and the kids were all wrestling each other. Kagome's really little ones were trying to walk around, with Kagome keeping a close eye on them.

"Inuyasha knows not to do anything harmful while I'm here." Kagome said, smiling as the kids all after Inuyahsha and started jumping on him.

"He's really good with kids."

Kagome smiled even wider when she said that. "Yeah, they love him. When Sesshomaru and Rin start having kids, they already asked us if we could watch them when they need there breaks." She winked at Sango.

"So, tell me something," Sango started. "Why is it that you and Rin are allowed to stay here unharmed, when this village uses humans as slaves?"

"Feh." Inuyasha came up and hugged Kagome, kissing her neck. "It's because I'm here to protect her, of course."

"Of course." Kagome said, turning her head so she could kiss him full on the lips. Sango thought it was the sweetest thing she had ever seen.

"Eww!" All the kids were staring and pointing at Inuyasha and Kagome, still locking lips. "Mommy and Daddy are kissing!" Said Yuffy.

Inuyasha and Kagome broke apart. "I'm going to get you guys!" Yelled Inuyasha, chasing after the squealing kids.

Sango and Kagome started laughing. Once Inuyasha was out of hearing reach, Kagome bent her head close to Sango's. "Actually, I've grown a lot stronger in the past ten years with my miko powers, and I could probably disintegrate any demon that so much as looks at me the wrong way. But, it makes Inuyasha feel better when he knows he can protect me, so I let him believe I'm still a helpless school girl." Sango tried to keep a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. It didn't work. They were both rolling on the grass with laughter, getting very weird looks from the rest of their family. Only one person wasn't laughing.

"Mother," Haru said, walking up to Kagome. "Do you mind if I go to the training rooms today? I didn't get to go yesterday, so I need to go a little early today."

"Why don't you go play with your brother and sister? I'm sure they need someone else to try and beat up your father."

Haru sighed, and rolled his eyes. "Such childish antics, mother. No time to play like a child when the spider demons can come back and try to destroy the village at any time."

"If you haven't noticed, you are a child, Haru. Go play like one." Kagome pointed to The twins, one on Inuyasha's back, and the other clinging to his leg, both trying to bring him down.

"Please mother." Haru resorted to begging.

"Well.....if you want to. Just be back for lunch."

"Thanks mom."

"Man! He always get me to agree to whatever he wants. Is it the begging that I always fall for, Sango?" Kagome said, once Haru was gone.

Sango shook her head. "Don't blame yourself, Kagome. Something tells me that kid would have found a way to get what he wants sooner or later. Much like my Sonnet."

Kagome smiled. "So, what's Sonnet like?"

Sango smiled, remembering her daughter."She is.... the most difficult child ever." Kagome laughed. "She trains all day, everyday, and she says absolutely what's on her mind. She is also much smarter than any 9 year-old should be, which only makes it harder on me."

"She sounds fun." Said Kagome.

"Yeah, my life would be so boring without her." Sango looked at the ground, recalling her precious little girl. "Sometimes, I wonder if I made the right choice in training her as a demon exterminator. I know it was hard for me when I was a child, and I wasn't so sure if I wanted her to grow up like that. Maybe I should have had a woman from the village teach her how to grow up like a woman with a respectable profession."

"Respectable profession? What, sewing, cooking, looking pretty? Those aren't respectable at all. What you do, saving whole towns from evil demons, that's something respectable." Kagome said, with admiration in her eyes.

"Thanks, Kagome." Sango didn't feel all that comforted by her words. It wasn't her fault she didn't understand what they had to go though, how hard it was to do a job dominated by men and be taken seriously.

"Excuse me." Said a deep voice from behind them. Sango turned around to find the kitsune's father that she was sold to yesterday. He was with his little girl, holding his head up, trying to act proud. Inuyasha seemed to have noticed he was here, and came running to stand next to Kagome. He growled at the kitsune. "What do you want, Rokin? Don't you have enough money or do you need to come over and try to steal ours."

The kitsune let out a small chuckle. "One can never have to much money, Inuyasha. But that is not the reason why I am here. Apparently, your son stole my daughter's slave form her and I've come to get her back." He looked directly at Sango.

"Look, first of all, you shouldn't even have have slaves. Nobody should ever have to subjected to that kind of inhumanity. Anybody who owns one is just a prissy ass bastard who can't go make their own breakfast in the morning. And secondly, Haru told me he traded fairly for Sango, and that makes her free to us." Inuyasha said, snarling at him and showing his fangs.

Rokin held up his hands in defense. "No need to say names here, Inuyasha. I just wanted to see if I could reason with you before I went to the elders and explained that your son stole my daughter's slave."

"Why don't you fight like man for once? Right now, we'll fight for Sango." Inuyasha drew his sword, getting ready to fight.

Rokin shook his head. "You know you're the strongest demon in the village, beside Sesshomaru. It would hardly be fair."

"Wait a second!" Sango said, jumping up in rage. "I don't need anybody to fight for me! I'll fight for my own freedom!" She got up right in Rokin's face. "I challenge you myself. Winner, gets my freedom."

"You? You're a human. Not to mention a woman. It would be against me gentleman codes to hit a woman."

"What are you, afraid you'll be defeated by a female human." Kagome said, getting tired with his attitude.

Rokin was quiet. His honor was on the line, and he couldn't afford to lose. "Fine we'll fight. When do you want to lose you're freedom?"

"You mean, when do I want to fight? Right now is fine." Sango got her boomerang ready and stared him down.

Rokin didn't waiver under her glare. "Fine, let's do it."

The walked over to an open field. On the way, Inuyasha caught up to Sango, who was trying her hair up out of her face. "Are you sure you want to do this? I can just go beat him up if you want. You won' have to do anything."

Sango smiled at his willingness to protect her, like an older brother would. "Thanks, Inuyasha, but I need to do this on my own. I wouldn't feel right if you fought my battle."

"I didn't think you would accept my help. Just try and stay safe."

"And win?" Sango added.

"And win." Inuyasha said, giving her a rare smile he usually saved for Kagome only.

They reached the field. "Are you ready to lose?" Rokin asked, bringing out his long whip. It had three ends that all looked very sharp.

Sango held her boomerang in fighting stance.

Rokin made the first move. He ran with amazing speed towards her, faster than Sango expected, and made a loud crack with his whip. Sango held her boomerang to block her body just in time, but felt a sharp pain on her left shoulder. She looked to see that one of the heads managed to draw a lot of blood and left a nasty wound. "Ready to give up yet?" Rokin said in a mocking voice.

"Yeah right." Sango spat back, raising her boomerang over her head and throwing it with a amazing force. It barley avoided Rokin. He dodged to the right, having it barley going over his head, and sent his whip cracking back at Sango. Sango saw this coming, and easily got out of the way before it hit her. She re-caught her weapon, and sent it flying back at him. He still managed to get out of the way by going towards the left.. 'This is going nowhere, fast.' Thought Sango, getting out of the way of his whip again. 'I know!'

Sango put her gas mask on, and took out two of her poisonous smoke bombs. She threw them out in front of her, and the exploded sending them both in poisonous smoke, making it very hard to see. Rokin and Sango disappeared in it.

"I can't see them, Inuyasha!" Cried Kagome, noticing the smoke coming her way.

"We have to get you and the kids out of here. Let's go!" Inuyasha picked her and the kids up, throwing them over his shoulder and and running in the opposite direction of the fight.

Sango continued in the fight. She threw her boomerang one last time into the smoke, toward Rokin. He sensed in, and dodged toward the right, only to be struck by a sword. Sango had ran up to him, anticipating he would dodged that way, and had struck him with he sword that she had taken out. When the smoke cleared, she stood over Rokin with her weapon drawn at his throat.

"I see you won." Rokin said, moving the sword out of the way. He calmly stood up, and brushed the imaginary dirt off of him like a dignified man. His little daughter ran up to him, with tears in her eyes.

"Daddy! I want my slave back!" The girl screeched, clinging to her father's leg.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, we'll go and buy you a new one tomorrow." He and his daughter walked away.

Sango stared at them disgusted as they left. 'What a jerk'

Kagoem ran up to her and gave her a hug. "You were great! You really showed him!"

"Thanks, Kagome." They both laughed at the face Rokin showed when he lost.
After they both sobered down, Sango heard a familiar voice. "SANGO" It screamed, jumping into her lap.

"Shippo! I didn't know you were here too!"

"I've been traveling with Sesshomaru and Rin, just making sure they got to the border safety. When I smelled your scent, I rushed over here as quickly as I could. Sesshomaru actually seemed pretty glad when I left, come to think of it." Shippo shrugged his shoulders, confused why anyone would want to get rid of him on their honeymoon. He was just so fun! "Anyway, I saw you beat up Rokin, And I couldn't have been more happy!"

"Thanks, Shippo." Sango studied Shippo curiously, astonished by the fact that he only looked about 5 years older than when she last saw him. "It's been so great to see you again! What have you've been doing the past 10 years?

Shippo began talking incredibly fast, with Sango only able to catch a few words here and there. She was amazed how boyish he still seemed, even though he was older than Inuyasha. Kitsune grow much slower than most demons.

Sango had been having so fun, catching up with all her old friends, that she barley noticed the time. It wasn't until later that she realized she had stayed at the village for to long, and that she needed to get home. Soon.

"Umm, Kagome?" Sango said, not wanting anyone to get mad she had so quickly.

"Yes, Sango?" Kagome said, passing her some fruit. They were having lunch with the whole family, and it had taken her a while to get Kagome's attention.

"I hate to ruin the good mood, but I do need to be getting home soon. I'm afraid Sonnet might do something stupid, like come after me all by herself." 'Or with Miroku.' She silently dreaded. She wanted to tell her about her father first, before she heard it from anyone else. She knew she should have told her sooner, but she couldn't find the strength. Yes, she was a coward.

"I'm sorry, Sango. You can't leave yet."

"What?!" Sango jumped up. She had to get back. Sonnet would have sure heard about her disappearance by now, and she was probably on her way. She had to intercept her daughter before she got to close and was captured. Or worse.

"It's a village rule that no humans are allowed to leave once they enter." Kagome saw the look of terror on her face. "Oh, but don't worry. We can sneak you out of here once the slave catchers' leave. They have much tighter security than anybody in the village. The village guards don't actually pay attention all that much, and it would be easier to get you out."

"How long will the slave catchers be here?"

"Hmm. I think for another week."

'A week!' Thought Sango, starting to panic. 'Sonnet will by sure be here by then! Okay, calm down. Maybe she hasn't left yet. Maybe she won't go after me." Sango tried to think positive.

Unfortunately the other part of her brain wouldn't let her. "What are you thinking? She Miroku's daughter for goodness sake! Oh course she'll come after you! Oh God, oh God. Please don't let anything happen to her! And if Miroku encouraged her in anyway to go through with following me, I'll get him!'

Kagome noticed the same terror still on her friend's face. "Don't worry Sango. If your daughter does come looking for you, I'm sure nothing will happen to her."

"How are you so sure?"

"The slave catcher's may be cruel in selling slaves, but they don't kill any humans they see. Usually, they'll just bring them back here and sell them. We can go looking to see if your daughter is there later. I don't think she could have made it here by now."

Sango calmed down a little after hearing her words. "You right. I just need to calm down. No need to be worried." The words sounded fake to her own ears.

"Mommy! Mommy! Haru's not here!" Yelled Kato, pointing to the seat that was empty.

"What! Where'd he run off to now?" Kagome asked looking towards the woods for him. "Inuyasha, didn't I ask you specifically to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't run off again?"

"Hmm?" Inuyasha was to busy stuffing himself with food to hear her. He swallowed before answering. "Is it my fault the kid wants to go out and free more slaves? He has to much of you in him, if you ask me."

Kagome found this incredibly sweet. "Ahh, you really think that?" She asked, walking over and falling in his lap. She smiled as she brought her face closer to hers.

"You bet I do." Inuyasha growled playfully, capturing her lips with his.

"Eww!" All the kids old enough to talk and to know what they were doing said, disgustedly. "Gross!"

Sango smiled as Inuyasha and Kagome pulled apart quickly, both bright red as they turned to there children.

'cough' "Anybody need anymore food?" Kagome said, as all her little one's hands raised up, including Inuyasha's.

'There so much in love.' Sango was still smiling as Kagome, getting tired of Inuyasha's rudeness, threw food at him. It landed in his hair, and that's how a massive food fight began. 'If only I could have that.' Thought Sango, as a rather large rice ball came in contact with the right side of his face.

End

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Sorry about the long update. Just started school again.

Thank you to all my reviewers! It really brings a tear to my eye when I read a new one! Please review!

Next Chapter:

Sonnet gets sold to a very annoying female kitsune who just lost her las t slave,(Guess who) and meets Haru. Will sparks fly between the two 9 year-olds, or will the sparks set fire to the entire village and burn in down to a fiery pit of doom? Find out in the next chapter!