Disclaimer:I do not own Inuyasha. I do own any character that I made up. I promise this chapter will be longer than the last one. We are in the Western Lands right now.

Kiniro Sakura

Chapter Fifteen: Here Comes Hokiboshi!

Sakura awoke the next morning feeling very refreshed. She stretched and smiled when she remembered last night.

"That's right. Hokiboshi should be arriving today! I had better go wait for him or someone might think he's an intruder." She hurriedly got dressed into a plain purple kimono and put her hair into a ponytail. She slipped on some sandals and walked out of her room. As she walked through the halls to get to the dining room, she ran into Suiren, Tsuki, Umi, and Tsubaki. She smiled at them and the group of females walked to the dining room together. When they got there they noticed that all of the males plus Rin were already seated and about to eat. Keshi and Oshika raised their eyebrows but that was all. The females quickly sat down next to their mates, except Sakura, who sat to the left of Sesshoumaru next to Rin. Once the food was set in front of Sakura, she started stuffing food into her mouth as fast as she could without choking. Keshi, Tsuki, Oshika and Rin giggle silently. All of the other demons just looked at Sakura amused. Sesshoumaru softly growled at her.

"Why are you eating so fast?" He asked coldly. Sakura looked at him for a minute before shrugging.

"I'm meeting a friend. I have to hurry and catch him before someone else does." She said as she finished off her food and stood up. She bowed and excused herself from the table. The rest of the Lords, Ladies, and servants laughed once she was gone.

"I wish I had her appetite!" Suiren exclaimed as she giggled.

"Sesshoumaru! She'd make the perfect mate for you." Hinoki said slyly. All laughing stopped and they looked at Sesshoumaru with sly smiled. He gave a small snort before glaring at them all.

"I will not mate some kitsune that doesn't even have royal blood, let alone a good fighter." He growled. Oshika, Keshi, and Tsuki gave knowing glances at each other. This did not go unnoticed by Suiren and Asagao. They gave a nod to each other and decided to ask Keshi and Tsuki about it later. No one noticed that Rin had left.

~Outside~

Sakura smiled as she walked down into the garden. Some servants had cleaned up the carcass of the lizard demon that Sesshoumaru had killed yesterday. Sakura stopped smiling when she remembered what the demon had said before it died.

"He is coming. He will kill you, Lady Sakura." He had said. Sakura still pondered on how he knew her name but shrugged it off. The enemy must've told him. Her thoughts were but short though when she heard small feet scuffling behind her. She turned her head and smiled again as Rin came into view. That kid sure is kawaii! She thought as she went over and picked Rin up. Rin giggled and looked at Sakura through fond eyes.

"Rin left because royal people were talking about you and Sesshoumaru-sama." She said matter-of-factly.

"What did they say?" She asked. She couldn't help it if she was curious. Rin nodded and her face turned so serious that Sakura almost laughed at loud at Rin's expression.

"They said that Sakura-sama and Sesshoumaru-sama would make good mates." She said. Sakura looked so surprised she almost fell over. Instead she leaned against a tree and slid to the ground. Rin hopped over to her and sat in her lap.

"Rin want to know what 'mates' mean." She said and pouted when Sakura hesitated. Sakura sighed.

"Oh fine, you win. 'Mate' means um, getting bonded to a person of demon." She stopped but the look on Rin's face made her continue.

"Well, bonded means that that person will stay with them forever, thus they mark them as their mate. Sometimes Youkai do this to a child that they adopted. If that child is human, they will become a hanyou or half demon. If that child was already a Youkai, they will get a little more powerful and their markings would change. That's what happened to my little sister." Sakura shut her mouth. She had told Rin too much information, even if she was just a child. Rin looked at her for a moment before speaking.

"Rin don't mind if you don't want to share, Sakura-sama. Rin can wait until you're ready to talk." As she said this she bounced off to pick some flowers for her 'Sesshoumaru-sama'. Sakura was still sitting by the tree, shocked for the second time that day by the same child. Where does a child get that wisdom? She wondered. She shook her head and stood up. She was about to go back into the castle when a familiar scent hit her nose. She sniffed again to make sure and smiled. She turned to Rin and her smile got bigger.

"Rin, I will be right back. If anyone asks where I am tell them that I will be right back, ok?" Sakura asked. Rin nodded and went back to picking her flowers as Sakura raced into the forest.

~In The Forest~

Sakura stopped in a clearing and sat down. He will be here soon. She thought happily. She closed her eyes to wait. She must've dozed off because when she opened them again it was dusk.

"Crap! Everyone, or at least some people, will start to worry if I don't get back soon." She mentally debated on whether she should go back to the castle, wait here, or go and find Hokiboshi herself. Finally the last thought won. She transformed into her demon form and ran off into the forest. A half-hour later she could see Hokiboshi in the clearing ahead of her. She barked happily and ran up to him. He too barked happily and they jumped around a bit before Sakura changed back into her human form. Hokiboshi jumped into her open arms and licked her face.

"Well boy, did you finally get fed up with the others and took off on your own? Or are the others coming too?" Hokiboshi barked at the first question and whimpered at the second question. She nodded, she had understood perfectly. She looked up at the sky and saw that the moon was coming up.

"We should be going back now. The others are probably worried about us. I'll transform so we can get there faster and you can ride on my back, okay?" Hokiboshi nodded and Sakura transformed into her demon self again. Hokiboshi hopped up onto her back and she took off running. In a few minutes they were back at the castle. A small group of people were outside and Sakura halted to a stop in front of them. When they first saw her they had gotten into a fighting stance. Sakura recognized them as Oshika, Rin, Umi, Sesshoumaru, Hinoki, Tsuki, Keshi, Tsubaki, and Suiren. Asagao and Jaken came running out minutes later. Realization slowly dawned on Oshika, Tsuki, and Keshi. They got out of their fighting stances and Tsuki ran over to the large liver fox and hugged her neck. The fox stomped one of her legs; the golden lines that went up to her shoulders and hips seemed to shimmer with the movement. Large, blue eyes with golden sparks blinked at her. Suddenly three long tails started wagging back and forth. The other Lords and servants looked at the group questioningly. Keshi shook his head and looked at Oshika before going over to his mate. Oshika turned back to the group and rubbed his head nervously.

"Well, um, this is Sakura's demon form. And the small snow white fox on her back is the demon she was going to meet, Hokiboshi. He is the last of the Snow White foxes and has been with Sakura for a very long time. He must've smelt her out and found her." Oshika explained. The group nodded, still a little wary. When they looked back at the foxes, a now human Sakura was standing there with Hokiboshi in her arms. She smiled at everybody. Tsuki, Umi, Rin, Tsubaki, and Suiren gathered around her and began to ask her questions about where she was and about the fox in her arms. Sakura smiled nervously but Hokiboshi seemed to be enjoying the attention. Keshi and Oshika walked over to the giggling females and separated them.

"Alright Ladies, Sakura will talk to you inside. Right now it is late and we must get to bed if we are going to welcome the new guests tomorrow." He said. All of the females backed off reluctantly and Sakura gave Keshi a confused look. He winked at her. She nodded and went into the castle with the loud group of female following her. She shut the door to her room and put on a sleeping kimono. She reopened the door to her room and stared at the group of females who were all sitting on the floor. She sweatdropped. Geez, won't they ever give up? They stood up and looked at her.

"Uh, guys, I'm a little tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow? That way when the 'guests' arrive I won't have to say it twice if they ever see my demon from. All of the girls frowned but nodded anyway. Tsuki smiled, she had been there but was not one of the ones that wanted to get information out of Sakura.

"Oyasumi Nasai, we will talk in the morning over breakfast." And with that said, all of the females went to their respected rooms. Sakura shook her head and smiled. It feels so good to have so many friends, especially since Suzuran isn't here. She thought as she yawned and climbed into her bed. Hokiboshi curled up next to her and soon they were fast asleep.

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Don't worry, Sesshoumaru will have lots more parts later in this fic. I'm mainly centering it around Sakura and her past right now but as soon as most, if not everybody, finds out about her past I will have Sesshoumaru in here more often. Please review! Animechick8